Location: Upper Yard, the remodeled Great Canyon.
Time: April 23rd, Year 1520 of the Sea Circle Calendar (up to this moment)
Personnel: Ren, Zoro, Nami, Nojiko, Robin, Urouge, Cavendish, Baccarat, Monet, Vivi.
Additional items: Three Chesters filled with materials.
External garrison: 500 Angels of Glory + Karasu.
Possible hidden dangers: Caesar, Punk Hazard, the residents of Angel Island, Doflamingo.
Preparations made: Contingency plans delivered.
"It's finished."
Ren drew the final period in his notebook, declaring that all preparations were complete.
He took out the black-and-gold card and activated the Space-Time: Domain trait.
A golden domain spread over the surroundings, then extended into the distance at incredible speed.
Almost at the same time, everyone present felt an extremely peculiar sensation.
"It feels like we're being invaded or something…"
Nami complained.
The others nodded in agreement. They all felt the same thing.
But no one made any real move.
Whether it was Zoro, Nami, Nojiko, or Vivi, none of them reacted much.
They trusted that their captain would never do anything harmful to them.
Urouge and Robin, on the other hand, both took a synchronized step back, though they quickly steadied themselves.
Monet looked utterly dead inside. Recently, she had been forced to face this kind of thing over and over again.
Ren was basically using her as a test subject, except this time the scale was beyond imagination.
Cavendish looked uncertain and alarmed. Seeing how calm everyone else was, he felt like he couldn't embarrass himself, so he also put on a composed front.
Baccarat looked around at the others, but in the end, she still didn't move.
Her life had already been handed over to Ren by Tesoro.
Of course, she could consider escaping, or leaving this place and making her own way in the world.
But after learning even a little about Ren's deeds, she wasn't sure she could escape from the "Prophet."
If she went through countless hardships only to discover Ren waiting for her at the end—
she really would break down.
Each person had their own reaction, and Ren took them all in while beginning his next operation.
The Space-Time: The Creator card fully unfolded.
Within a one-kilometer radius, matter—including space itself—was intercepted by the Creator Domain and brought under the Creator's control.
For example, this training ground built within the Great Canyon.
The card began its progress bar, from 1% to 100%.
Everything was shrouded in a faint golden glow, as though bathed in the radiance of sunset.
Then, everything calmed down and returned to normal.
"…That's it?"
Nami stared blankly around her. It seemed like… nothing had changed.
"Don't be so impatient."
Nojiko frowned slightly. While her human form as a Devil Fruit user didn't grant her any major powers, her instincts were still warning her that something here had changed.
Something was definitely wrong.
But then—
Cavendish let out a laugh.
"Ha—? If it's just a cheap trick like this, I might as well train somewhere else.
What's different here compared to before? Ren… are you making some kind of new-style cold joke?"
"You can't feel it, rookie?"
Zoro narrowed his eyes and immediately stepped in to fire back at Cavendish.
"And disrespecting the captain isn't the kind of quality a crew member should have!"
"Ha? Ren didn't say anything about it! This is just how we get along!"
Cavendish retorted unwillingly, though because of the teacher's presence, he restrained himself from saying anything truly offensive.
"And I'm just telling the truth. What feeling? This place hasn't changed at all!"
"You call yourself a swordsman, yet you can't even sense that 'they' paused for a moment?"
"'They'? What's that supposed to mean? Oh, the 'life' in the air, right? Why would I care about that? If I need it, I'll just gather it when the time comes."
"Ha? You call that being a swordsman?"
"I'm a genius, you—"
"That's enough. There's no need to argue. Just look at the result."
Ren cut off the dispute between the two. When both Zoro and Cavendish turned toward him, he snapped his fingers.
Snap—!
The sky suddenly brightened, blinding brilliance pouring down from above along with scorching heat.
No—just now it had already been daytime.
Then why had it suddenly become so much brighter?
"This is…"
Cavendish instinctively looked up. His pupils shrank, and then he immediately shut his eyes and lowered his head.
The sight he had just seen still lingered in his vision.
"…Three suns?!"
Urouge finished what Cavendish had failed to say, staring at the sky in shock before tears streamed down his face and he lowered his head as well.
Damn, it was way too bright!
"How exaggerated, Ren. Is that real?"
Nami, Nojiko, and Vivi all cried out in unison, completely unable to believe that one sun had become three!
But if he had this kind of power, then why did they even need to train?
Especially Nami—when that thought occurred to her, the urge to slack off began quietly taking root in her heart.
"Hmph, so there really was something off.
If your level as a swordsman is low, it's only natural that you can't feel it. But to think everyone else is the same as you—that's just naive."
Zoro snorted coldly and cast Cavendish a sidelong glance, the meaning in his eyes perfectly obvious.
"…"
For a moment, Cavendish didn't know what to say, so he could only remain silent.
Mainly because the sight of three suns had been too overwhelming. He no longer knew how to speak.
But in his heart, his awe for Ren had already begun to grow without limit.
He only wanted to become a great man. He was still at the very beginning of that path, and not yet someone who could remain unmoved in the face of a miracle.
One snap of the fingers—and the sun became three?
What exactly was the thing that had saved him? What kind of existence was he following?
A god?
Then had he just questioned a god? Would he be punished?
"Should I apologize right now…?"
Cavendish began doubting his entire life.
"How terrifying…"
Baccarat was overwhelmed with reverence, and without the slightest hesitation, she killed off the last tiny bit of hope in her heart.
Against an existence like this, luck itself probably couldn't win, right?
Even if all she wanted was to run away…
And yet there was still someone harboring doubt—someone rejecting it with all their might.
"That's impossible! It has to be some kind of illusion!"
Monet clutched her head in pure terror, her whole body trembling.
If he truly possessed this kind of power, then how could her young master ever defeat a "god"?
"The suns… don't seem to be real?"
Robin had activated her Devil Fruit ability. Arms grew from the ground, and an eye appeared in the palm of an opened hand.
Although it was dazzling, in the brief intervals she still managed to see the suns' true forms.
One of them was the real sun she had observed before—but when she actually looked at the other two, they felt somewhat fake.
"That's right. It's only a visual effect."
"I knew it! You must have pulled some—"
Before Monet could finish her fierce denial, Ren revealed part of the truth.
"I merely copied the sensory data of one sun and pasted two more.
Because within a one-kilometer radius, I can manipulate everything here—time, space, material composition, and so on.
As long as you're inside this place, I can freely impose effects on you.
For that, I should thank Miss Monet. She made an outstanding contribution."
As he spoke, Ren smiled and applauded Monet.
"Just you wait. Young Master will make you pay it back a hundredfold!"
Monet gritted her teeth and clenched her fists tightly.
"Really? Even now, that's still what you think?"
Ren asked curiously, "You should understand, shouldn't you? Even if it's only within a one-kilometer radius, the power I possess there is practically godlike."
"Then why don't you overthrow the world and fulfill your ideals?"
Monet seized on the loophole and glared viciously at that devil-like man.
"You can't do it, can you?
If such a terrifying power can't just be brought out at will, then that means it can't be used as a weapon!
Now that I think about it, when you did that sort of thing to me before, there was also a period of waiting.
You even pretended not to recognize me and deliberately deceived me just to meet the necessary conditions, didn't you?
For powers like Devil Fruit abilities, there must be prerequisite conditions before they can take effect.
As long as someone realizes it in time and avoids being affected by that golden light, they can escape your control, right?"
"How clever."
Ren did not deny it. With another snap of his fingers, the sky returned to normal.
Beside him, Baccarat shrank her neck a little, but the hope in her heart did not rekindle in the slightest.
Even so, he still wasn't an existence she could do anything against.
Besides, staying here hadn't led to Ren mistreating her anyway.
"You'll pay a price for this."
Monet said coldly, "Young Master will never lose to someone like you. I believe that with all my heart!"
"Then keep believing."
Nami suddenly stepped forward and mocked her.
"When your precious young master is kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, you can keep saying that too."
Clearly, the lioness hidden in her bones had started protecting her man.
The two began arguing, and soon Nojiko and Vivi joined the fray.
Monet was outnumbered three to one and gradually lost ground. In the end, she simply chose to flee.
"All right, that's enough."
Ren shrugged, then began assigning everyone their positions.
He took out a stack of blank papers and handed them around, telling everyone to write down the kind of environment they wanted, as well as any auxiliary facilities they needed.
Nami and Nojiko had originally wanted to chase after Monet, but in the end they stayed behind to think about what they wanted.
Zoro dragged away a curious Cavendish, whose face was practically screaming I want to watch the drama, and headed toward the area he had chosen for himself.
After thinking for a moment, Urouge followed them as well.
Baccarat, however, seemed hesitant, since she wasn't very clear on how to develop her own ability.
At that moment, Vivi suddenly came to find Ren.
"Um… Crocodile can come out too, right?"
"Yes."
"Before, when you took away the Imaginary Chamber helmet, I felt like I'd lost my teacher."
"But now you have one again—and this time it's one-on-one guidance in reality."
"But… I don't know how I should face him."
Vivi looked hesitant.
"You know… he nearly destroyed my homeland. He's my enemy.
Before, it was different, because everyone was already dead and only existed as souls.
I didn't really feel much. But…"
"If you find it difficult, then we don't have to let him out."
Ren looked at the uneasy Vivi and patted her head.
"Although he is indeed the best choice, he's definitely not the only one.
I think Zoro could also become a teacher to temper you—or maybe someone else."
(End of Chapter)