Unfortunately, ten points is a threshold built into the talent panel. If I want to keep stacking attributes beyond that, I first have to raise the talent's base attribute to half of the maximum.
Kaito looked at the talent panel with a trace of helplessness.
That's right.
Just as the values currently displayed on the talent panel showed, Kaito had concentrated his [Devil Fruit] talent to ten points, but he hadn't continued adding the remaining talent attributes to it. Instead, he had concentrated those remaining attributes into [Constitution].
It wasn't that he didn't want to further strengthen his [Devil Fruit] talent.
He simply couldn't.
Although the talent panel allowed him to freely redistribute his talent attributes, the stacking process wasn't completely unrestricted. There were thresholds.
Ten talent points represented the first major threshold.
Once a single talent reached ten points through concentration, further stacking became impossible unless that talent's base attribute had reached half of the threshold value.
In other words, the talent needed a base attribute of at least five points.
Simply put, if a talent's natural base attribute hadn't reached five points, then no matter how Kaito redistributed his attributes, the maximum adjusted talent value would remain capped at ten.
To break through the ten-point barrier, the talent's base attribute had to reach at least five points.
Among all of Kaito's current talents, [Weapons] possessed the highest base attribute.
However, even its base attribute was only two points.
Naturally, none of his talents were currently capable of breaking through the ten-point limit.
Still, a ten-point talent concentration limit is more than enough for now.
It's already enough to make my training speed vastly superior to everyone else's.
Besides, raising a talent's base attribute to five points isn't impossible. At my current rate of improvement, it shouldn't take too long.
Although Kaito felt somewhat helpless about the threshold imposed by the talent panel, he wasn't dissatisfied.
He wasn't an insatiably greedy person.
Based solely on what the talent panel had already demonstrated, it had given him more than enough advantages.
If he still complained after receiving such an outrageous cheat, even Kaito wouldn't know what to say about himself.
More importantly, the effect of concentrating a talent to ten points was already terrifying.
The higher the talent attribute, the greater the enhancement it provided.
In terms of training efficiency alone, a ten-point talent attribute was at least twice as effective as the nine-point talent concentration he'd possessed when he first entered the Grand Line.
That was precisely why Kaito had managed to develop the Munch-Munch Fruit to such an impressive level despite obtaining it only recently.
"Law, the next time we stop for supplies, you'll be responsible for purchasing metal," Kaito said with a smile.
With his previous experience strengthening his golden sabers, improving Kikoku was extremely easy.
However, the strengthening process required a sufficient amount of metal.
That was why, during the past several days, the fleet hadn't sailed directly toward Alabasta.
Instead, they frequently stopped at islands along the way to purchase enormous quantities of various metals.
"No problem. Leave it to me!"
Law confidently patted his chest.
The captain had personally helped him strengthen Kikoku.
Naturally, Law wouldn't refuse something as simple as purchasing metal.
Even if Kaito hadn't said anything, Law would've volunteered to handle it himself.
After all, the more metal they purchased, the further Kikoku could be strengthened.
Water 7 was quite far from Alabasta.
After agreeing to regroup with Lafayette in Alabasta, Kaito didn't rush the journey.
Instead, he continued traveling among the islands surrounding Alabasta, purchasing all kinds of metals in enormous quantities.
Naturally, such large-scale metal purchases weren't solely for strengthening Law's Kikoku.
Kaito also intended to comprehensively upgrade the weapons used by the War Pirates.
Because Kaito himself was a swordsman, almost every ordinary member of the War Pirates carried a sword.
Although, aside from Lafayette, none of them had officially reached the level of a true swordsman yet, that didn't prevent Kaito from giving his subordinates the best possible training conditions.
If a worker wanted to do his job well, he first had to sharpen his tools.
The crew members naturally had to cultivate their swordsmanship through their own efforts.
However, weapons were different.
If Kaito lacked the necessary resources, there would be nothing he could do.
But now that he possessed the conditions to provide better weapons, he naturally didn't mind upgrading his subordinates' equipment.
Furthermore, Kaito's continuous consumption of different metals had another purpose.
He wanted to see whether he could develop a memory metal similar to Wapometal.
If he succeeded, the benefits would be enormous.
Not only could he further strengthen his own weapons and those of his subordinates, but the newly developed alloy could also become a source of tremendous wealth in the future.
Of course, Kaito's development of the Munch-Munch Fruit wasn't limited to item fusion.
He had also conducted various other experiments.
For example, he had tried swallowing Robin, Neferpitou, and the others to acquire and use their Devil Fruit abilities.
These experiments first allowed Kaito to gain a clearer understanding of the Munch-Munch Fruit's stamina consumption.
When using the ability of one other Devil Fruit user, his stamina consumption was twice that of simply using his own Munch-Munch Fruit.
If he simultaneously used the abilities of two other people, the stamina consumption doubled again.
Three abilities meant four times the consumption.
Four abilities meant eight times.
And so on.
In short, the more Devil Fruit abilities Kaito used simultaneously, the greater the stamina consumption became, increasing exponentially.
However, there was one important detail.
This only applied when multiple abilities were used at the same time.
If Kaito used only one stolen Devil Fruit ability at a time, the additional stamina consumption remained merely doubled.
In addition, while experimenting with other people's Devil Fruit abilities, Kaito discovered another unexpected benefit.
He could indirectly help others develop their Devil Fruit powers.
Well...
The primary reason was his talent concentration.
Kaito's Devil Fruit development efficiency was vastly superior to that of ordinary people.
Even when he casually experimented with someone else's ability, the moves and development methods he created could provide Robin and the others with valuable inspiration.
For them, watching Kaito use their own abilities in completely different ways was practically equivalent to receiving direct guidance.
Time passed without anyone noticing.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had gone by.
"Is this Alabasta?"
"It's really hot. Isn't the weather here a little too extreme?"
The familiar desert continent stretched endlessly before them.
As the ships gradually docked along the coast, Lafayette, Bone, Sandy, and Zoro stood on the deck of the No. 1 flagship.
It was their first time visiting Alabasta, and all four curiously observed the vast desert landscape before them.
Compared with Lafayette and the others, Robin, Neferpitou, Law, and Smoker appeared much more relaxed.
They had already visited Alabasta once before.
That's right.
After more than half a month, the two separated forces of the War Pirates had successfully reunited.
Together, they had returned to Alabasta.
"Zoro, your swords are ready. Catch!"
At that moment, just as the fleet finished docking, Kaito walked out of the cabin.
He casually swept his gaze across the people gathered on the deck.
The moment he spotted Zoro among the crowd, Kaito raised his hand and threw the three long swords he was carrying directly toward him.
"Huh?!"
Zoro instinctively turned his head.
The instant he saw three long swords flying toward him, his expression changed slightly.
He quickly reached out and caught them.
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