The latter half of the Grand Line, Elchemy Island.
This island was famous throughout the world for its metallurgy and steel manufacturing technology. A large number of scientific research experts in the field of metal science gathered here, specializing in research in this area, earning it the nickname "Steel Island."
Sephiroth, dressed in a black suit with twin swords at his waist, strolled leisurely down the town's streets.
Under his conscious hypnosis, the enthusiastic islanders readily provided him with the location of the residence of the genius alchemist, Myscina Assier.
Soon, Sephiroth stood at the door of a red-roofed wooden house. He raised his hand and knocked.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Please wait a moment! I'll be right there..."
Immediately after, an intellectual beauty wearing a white lab coat, round-rimmed glasses, and her long golden hair tied back in a ponytail, opened the door from inside.
"Uh!?... And you are, Mr.?" The blonde beauty asked with a puzzled expression.
"Hello! Madam, my name is Sephiroth, and I'm here to see Dr. Myscina Assier..."
"Is he home?" Sephiroth asked with a slight smile.
"Yes! My husband is in the lab. I'll go get him."
Just as the blonde beauty finished speaking, a man's excited voice came from inside the house.
"I did it! Rhea, I did it! I finally created the legendary forbidden item... Pure Gold! Our daughter, Olga, can finally continue to live!"
Hearing this, the blonde beauty, Rhea, quickly turned around and looked into the house at a blonde middle-aged man who was holding a glass jar with both hands and running into the living room.
She quickly walked a few steps toward the blonde man and said with joy:
"Really? That's absolutely wonderful!"
"Hmm!? And this gentleman is...?"
After Assier and Rhea rejoiced for a while, they finally turned to look at Sephiroth, who had somehow already walked into the living room.
"You must be Dr. Assier, right? My name is Sephiroth, and the reason I've come to see you is because I have something very important to discuss with you."
"Uh!? What is it you wish to discuss with me?" Assier asked with a puzzled expression.
"I heard that your daughter, Olga, is suffering from the Emperor Fever of the South Blue, is that right?" Sephiroth asked with a smile.
Hearing this, Assier sighed softly and nodded in admission:
"Yes! I've truly gone to great lengths to cure her of this terminal illness."
"I see!... To be honest, I have developed a special medicine that specifically treats the Emperor Fever of the South Blue and can cure your daughter's illness. Are you interested in making a deal with me!?"
As soon as these words were spoken, expressions of ecstasy immediately appeared on the faces of Assier and Rhea. The two spoke in unison, "Is this true?!"
"Mr. Sephiroth, whatever you want, I will agree to it!" Assier said in an excited tone.
"I want three things. First, the Pure Gold in your hands. Second, the manufacturing technology for Pure Gold. And third, 500cc of your blood."
"You want Pure Gold!?"
Assier stared, stunned. He looked down at the glass jar in his hands, which held a fist-sized, oval-shaped golden egg.
This item was the reason for Sephiroth's trip: Pure Gold.
It was a very special metal. The light it emitted had the powerful ability to greatly delay the growth rate of all living beings.
Pure Gold wasn't very useful to Sephiroth. He possessed the Vampire Fruit. As long as he had enough life force stored, he could maintain his body in its youngest, peak state forever.
In fact, he'd kept his body in a seventeen-year-old state, ceasing growth and development, by choice.
Firstly, even if he allowed his body to grow and age, his physical muscle strength wouldn't increase much. Having reached his level of power, combat relied more on the intensity of Haki than muscle strength.
Secondly, he wanted to retain a certain degree of plasticity for his body. If his body were to completely solidify, he might be stuck at a certain power level in the future, unable to improve further.
After Sephiroth learned he had returned two hundred years into the past, he immediately set his sights on Pure Gold, something that could grant eternal youth.
He didn't really need something like Pure Gold himself, but his girls did.
Although he could inject life force to restore others' physical condition to their youngest, peak state.
However...
The life force he injected was, ultimately, a special energy formed using his Devil Fruit ability. Using it on himself was no problem.
But...
The life force injected into others would conflict with and repel their Armament Haki.
Regular use of Armament Haki wasn't an issue; at Sephiroth's level of Devil Fruit development, it wouldn't have a significant impact. However, if the other party used extremely strong Armament Haki, the foreign life force would be instantly expelled from their body, neutralizing its effects.
Powerful Armament Haki can negate Devil Fruit abilities, regardless of whether they are beneficial or harmful to the user!
Among Sephiroth's girls, Hancock, Sandersonia, and Gion, who possess powerful Armament Haki, would directly expel the life force he injected into their bodies when fully activating their Haki, leaving none behind.
In other words, in the future, if Sephiroth's powerful girls wanted to remain youthful and beautiful, they couldn't use high-intensity Armament Haki to fight others...
This situation felt quite like being trapped in one's own cocoon!
Therefore, he also felt very helpless!
In Sephiroth's original plan, he intended to wait until the year 1522 of the Sea Calendar, when Olga escaped from the mouth of the giant lantern fish. He would then use the power of the Umbrella Corporation to search for her whereabouts and seize the Pure Gold swallowed by the lantern fish, as well as the technology to make it.
Now, things were better!
He'd passed directly through the Rainbow Mist and arrived two hundred years earlier, which saved him a lot of trouble!
Assier's original purpose in developing Pure Gold was simply to save his terminally ill daughter, Olga.
However...
Now, someone was telling him they possessed a special medicine that could cure the Emperor Fever of the South Blue. After his initial astonishment, he quickly nodded and agreed:
"Alright! If you can truly cure my daughter's terminal illness, I will give you the Pure Gold, as well as the technology for manufacturing it..."
"Hmm!? Mr. Sephiroth, what do you need 500CC of my blood for?"
As he finished speaking, a hint of doubt appeared on Assier's face.
"Naturally, it has other uses. You don't need to know about that..."
"Take me to see your daughter!" Sephiroth said with a light chuckle.
Hearing this, Assier could only suppress the doubt in his heart and led Sephiroth to a bedroom inside the house.
"Papa! Mama! I feel so uncomfortable!"
On the bed, a little girl wearing a purple short skirt, with long wavy golden hair, lay. After seeing the three of them, she didn't get up, but weakly raised her right hand, groaning softly.
"Olga, you'll be alright..."
"Yes! We've found a way to cure you."
Assier and Rhea quickly walked to the side of the bed, held the blonde girl's right hand, and gently comforted her.
Adhering to the principle of rigorous medical examination, Sephiroth stepped to the side of the bed. He first checked Olga's eyes and tongue, and also took her pulse. Only then did he nod and say:
"Hmm! It is indeed the Emperor Fever of the South Blue. Don't worry!
Just give her two shots of the special medicine, and her symptoms will improve within an hour or two. By the next day, she'll be bouncing around!"
Saying this, Sephiroth drew the butcher knife from his waist, opened his spatial inventory, and took out two portable injectors containing liquid. One was the purple special medicine for the Emperor Fever of the South Blue, and the other was the pale yellow Life Strengthening Agent.
"I don't want a shot... I don't want a shot! I'm scared!"
Olga, lying on the bed, immediately showed extreme resistance upon seeing the injectors. Seeing this, Assier and Rhea could only quickly comfort her softly.
"Alright! Little sister, don't struggle. Only by getting a shot will you get better quickly."
Saying this, Sephiroth picked up the Life Strengthening Agent and directly injected it into Olga's left arm, slowly pushing it in.
Immediately, he picked up the purple special medicine for Emperor Fever and injected it into the little girl's arm again, ignoring her distressed cries.
To ensure the medicine took effect quickly, he had also injected Olga with the Life Strengthening Agent beforehand, giving her a passive recovery effect that surpassed Life Return in a short time, before starting the injection of the special medicine.
Therefore, his treatment effect was almost instantaneous. In just a few minutes, Olga broke out in a sweat, her complexion became slightly rosy, and her voice became full of energy.
Grrrrowl~!
"Papa! Mama! I'm hungry, I want something to eat...!" Olga said with a strong voice, covering her stomach, which was rumbling with intense hunger.
"Okay! I'll go get you something to eat right away."
Saying this, Rhea quickly got up, ran out of the bedroom, and brought bread, milk, and fruit from the kitchen.
Olga was incredibly hungry. She ate whatever was given to her without hesitation, consuming the amount of food for five adults in one go. She quickly absorbed the nutrients, instantly improving her overall spirit and vitality significantly.
"Olga, how do you feel now?" Assier asked with concern.
"Hmm! I feel like my body has never been this good before. I'm full of strength!"
Saying this, Olga even raised her little fist and waved it twice in the air.
"That's good! That's good!" Assier said with a look of relief.
"Well then... Dr. Assier, I have cured your daughter's illness as promised.
Now, it's time for you to pay the price!"
Sephiroth looked at the blonde man with a smile.
Hearing this, Assier immediately smiled and nodded. He opened his mouth and said:
"By the way, Mr. Sephiroth, did you bring blood drawing equipment?
You need 500cc of blood, so you should need tools, right?"
"Yes! I carry it with me."
"That's good! Go ahead and draw!"
Immediately, under Assier's astonished gaze, Sephiroth directly picked up his right arm, opened his mouth, extended his vampire fangs, bit down, and rapidly began to suck the former's blood.
This scene somewhat startled the three of them. However, since Assier didn't feel any pain, and even felt very comfortable, he didn't resist at all.
After a moment, Sephiroth finished reading the technology for manufacturing Pure Gold, as well as Assier's foundational knowledge as a top alchemist.
This couldn't help but make Sephiroth secretly exclaim in his heart:
This wave is pure profit!
This guy Assier is a complete genius scientist. His field of alchemy involves very deep areas like biology, chemistry, and physics, which greatly benefited Sephiroth.
So much so that he now had new research ideas for the Super Soldier Serum, which had been stuck at a technical bottleneck. It even made him feel an urge to just dive into the lab and furiously conduct research!
Over the years, Sephiroth had two very important advantages that helped him master cutting-edge scientific knowledge.
First, the Umbrella Corporation's top-tier research labs supported his projects.
Second, he could use the "Blood Recollection" technique to read others' knowledge. After absorbing blood, he couldn't directly and completely master the other person's knowledge and abilities.
But…
However, with the relevant memories, he could achieve a "reviewing the old to learn the new" effect when learning new information in a particular area. Basically, by looking at the relevant information once, he could roughly grasp that knowledge, and with a little thought, he could replicate the level of the memory's owner.
Therefore, he became an expert in biology, chemistry, medicine, and mechanical engineering in only eight or nine years!
What greatly surprised Sephiroth was that although Assier had created Pure Gold, he wasn't the inventor.
Hundreds of years ago, someone in this world had researched and created Pure Gold, causing great turmoil and disaster. This technology was subsequently lost and regarded as a taboo!
But…
However, to allow his daughter to live, Assier still researched it without hesitation. Through incomplete information and continuous research, he finally recreated Pure Gold!
"Whoosh!"
Sephiroth pulled out the vampire fangs embedded in Assier's right arm and let out a long, satisfied sigh.
As if remembering something, he then said:
"Oh, right, Assier..."
"Regarding Pure Gold, I want to give you some advice!"
"If you don't want to bring disaster upon yourself and your family, it's best not to spread the word about Pure Gold everywhere."
"Otherwise, those forces coveting Pure Gold might be detrimental to you."
Hearing this, Assier nodded and laughed heartily:
"My purpose in researching Pure Gold was simply to treat my daughter. Now that my goal has been achieved, I don't plan on manufacturing Pure Gold anymore in the future! After all, I fully understand what Pure Gold means. Once it is misused, it will bring various disasters."
As he finished speaking, Assier's tone suddenly became more serious. He said with a serious expression:
"Therefore, Mr. Sephiroth, I also hope that after you obtain Pure Gold, please do not misuse it, so as to avoid bringing disaster."
"Rest assured! I understand that!"
Sephiroth smiled, nodded, and readily agreed.
Then, after taking the existing Pure Gold and the relevant technical data, having achieved his objective, he directly left Elchemy Island...