Luck really was a factor that was hard to measure.
For Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, the path forward was to keep fighting and improve through the boundary between life and death.
But for Logia and Paramecia users, honestly, there was no real point of reference.
The only one they could use as a reference was Doflamingo, but he had already developed the power of strings to an almost ultimate level.
As for Baccarat, if she wanted to push the Luck-Luck Fruit to its limit, then awakening was clearly no simple matter.
But no matter what, everyone inside the Creator Domain was working hard to improve themselves.
After making some rough structural adjustments and satisfying everyone's requests, Ren entered seclusion once again.
This time,
he invested all of his accumulated funds into Haki aptitude and martial aptitude.
Then he began training his Haki and cultivating the Blood Demon Art.
Strictly speaking,
after Haki and Qi had fused, both of them now belonged to the same Haki martial system in essence.
The difference was that his former Purple Qi Rising from the East had been peaceful and harmless.
The Blood Demon Art, however, was filled with intense negative side effects. Leaving everything else aside, even its method of cultivation alone was enough to prove that.
After some investigation, Ren discovered that the Blood Demon Art's cultivation method centered around that token.
Or rather,
the grandmaster who had passed down this technique had turned the Blood Demon's corpse into the inheritance core of the art itself.
Once a drop of essence blood was dripped onto it, the token melted into the wound and quickly took root near the heart.
Blood-red veins surfaced, sketching the outline of a face that looked like a vicious ghost.
Ren watched all of this happen, but did nothing to stop it.
Not to mention that the new Blood Demon had yet to truly awaken and revive—even if it did revive, it might not actually be able to affect him.
The side effects were huge?
That depended on the person!
'I chose this time precisely because no matter what accident happened, I'm absolutely certain I can deal with it.'
With overwhelmingly powerful Creator Authority, precognitive inspiration from Premonition Sense, his datafied HP bar settings... and the Dimensional Roulette—
let alone a Blood Demon that had not yet revived, even if the Blood Demon at its peak were to awaken right now, it would still have to lie down obediently and pose however he wanted!
With absolutely no worries, Ren began cultivating in peace. He first used his own blood to nourish the Blood Demon, then followed the inspiration given by Premonition Sense.
He extracted the resentment and other negative emotions from those killed by his Killing Intent to nourish it, while continuously using Creator Authority to influence the gradually reviving new Blood Demon.
This progress had come from the results he obtained through Monet, and it had already formed into a technique that could practically be called brainwashing.
The muddle-headed Blood Demon had not even had time to affect its host before it was continuously remolded, little by little, into Ren's shape.
Devour him? Replace him?
Nothing but a joke!
At the same time,
he also put the Ten-Cold Alchemy Furnace to use and began producing a large quantity of pills.
Some were given to the others, while some were reserved for Ren himself to cultivate the Qi of the Haki martial path. The Blood Demon Art was also improving without pause.
At the end of this stretch of cultivation, his datafication also produced feedback.
It had completely fused Killing Intent with the Blood Demon Art, and later even fused his Protective Qi Barrier into it as well.
Even his Conqueror's Haki had been affected, though it had only undergone a positive change rather than truly merging into one whole.
Besides that,
Ren also began training his Haki continuously.
With tens of billions invested into talent, the progress of his two-color Haki was astonishing.
Before long, he left Zoro—who had previously been ahead of him—far behind, and even his swordsmanship advanced rapidly.
Time slipped away like sand through his fingers.
In the blink of an eye, Karasu had already stayed in Upper Yard for one month and thirteen days.
When he had first received Ren's plan, he had still been somewhat wary about the possibility of Doflamingo attacking.
But later he discovered that it was an extremely low-probability event.
Or rather,
all of those events had been low-probability occurrences.
At least up until now, Karasu had yet to encounter any kind of Angel Island rebellion, nor had there been any attempt by Caesar on Punk Hazard to escape.
Everything was being handled in perfect order under Robin's arrangements.
That was right—
after returning, Miss Robin had stepped in to adjust part of the arrangements. Before entering that place, she seemed to have used some methods.
At any rate, from Karasu's observations,
Caesar still believed, even now, that he was working for the World Government.
Gan Fall of Angel Island had covered up the news of Ren and the others' disappearance, while also handling the hidden dangers that might arise from the sudden appearance of Punk Hazard on the island.
In other words, things had become very peaceful.
"Before coming here, I thought Ren was preparing to go to war with a Warlord."
Karasu sighed with emotion and suddenly reached out a hand.
A crow that had returned from below the sea of clouds landed in his palm. After vanishing, it left behind today's issue of the World Economic Journal.
Though snatching newspapers from News Coo was hardly moral, the newspaper company probably wouldn't learn anything beyond the fact that a crow had stolen a paper.
Opening the newspaper, today's headline immediately came into view.
As expected, it was pirate news on the front page again, but...
"What a bright smile this guy has. Straw Hat... Luffy?"
Looking at the image in the report, Karasu thoughtfully read on:
"Oh? He's only just entered the first half of the Grand Line, and he's already taken down a king?
This sea really won't let anyone get bored..."
Just as he was about to continue reading, Karasu suddenly paused. In the range of his Observation Haki, the golden barrier had begun to change.
A sky full of crows took flight and gathered together, his condensed body appearing elsewhere.
Ahead of him,
the golden aura barrier slowly dissipated. Strands of golden light peeled away, flying inward like wandering dragons.
When the last strand of golden light converged, the black-gold card appeared once more.
The twenty-four-hour consolidation period had actually already been completed inside the domain.
One after another, the group emerged, each wearing a different expression.
"It really is a marvelous feeling."
Ren felt the strange difference, while at the same time seeing that the time-unit consumption on the card had completely dropped to zero.
The time units harvested from reaping the lives of several thousand pirates aboard Gran Tesoro had been entirely exhausted.
But the "result" he obtained was quite satisfying.
It was not just Ren himself—everyone else had also made their own breakthroughs, and the clearest sign was the obvious change in the aura around them.
"Long time no see, Ren."
A strange light flashed through Karasu's eyes. Under his Observation Haki, every single person here had changed in a way that was obvious to the extreme.
If before, they had been unsharpened blades—or perhaps lumps of raw iron—
then now, every one of them was a sharpened weapon.
The difference was that some were merely fine blades, while others were famous swords.
But if one wanted to distinguish them clearly, they would need to be tested in actual combat.
At that moment,
Ren put away the black-gold card, then walked over and greeted him, "It has indeed been a long time, Karasu. Want to talk?"
"Oh? Talk about what?"
"Something big."
Ren glanced at the newspaper in Karasu's hand. The familiar face on it stirred a trace of nostalgia in him.
But it was also a signal—his time was running short.
"It involves Pluton, one of the Ancient Weapons. You know where that thing is now too, right?"
"...The Yonko Kaido's base of operations."
"There'll be a very good opportunity later."
"Looks like there'll be some extra gains this time."
After talking with Karasu, Ren began taking action.
The first thing he did was make a call to Tesoro.
"What a surprise. It hasn't been that long, yet you already dare to show yourself?"
Aboard Gran Tesoro, Tesoro narrowed his eyes as he picked up the call.
"Because the time has come."
"The wager? Hahaha, you really are confident. It's only been a month and a half, and you already think you can beat me?"
"Why can't I?"
"...Aren't you underestimating the power of money too much?"
Tesoro slowly sat up straighter. "The situation now is very different from before."
"Since I proposed the wager, then I will definitely win it.
A prophet who loses is nothing but a fake."
Ren's voice was calm and cold, carrying absolute confidence. "Speaking of which, has anything big happened recently?"
"Heh."
Tesoro let out a cold laugh. "Doflamingo's been searching for you everywhere. There are bounties in the underground dark world on you and your people.
One of his subordinates, Pica, is dead. He retrieved the corpse from Moria, and even fought him over it.
Another subordinate named Monet has gone missing, and he's still searching for her.
I assume you must have some clues?"
"Soon enough, he won't need to worry about it anymore, right?"
Ren spoke meaningfully.
"You'd better not underestimate me too much. Beating me means nothing—you have to beat the money behind me."
Tesoro warned in a deep voice, "If you want me to stake everything on you—on the future you promised—
then at the very least, you need to overcome the power brought by the wealth I've spent all these years gathering!"
"You'll get your answer."
"Then I'll wait and see, Ren!"
The call ended.
Tesoro took a deep breath and pressed a button beside him.
Very soon, Tanaka rose up from the floor and respectfully said, "Lord Tesoro, what are your orders?"
"Prepare the ship for going to the New World. You know which kind of ship I mean. I'm going to meet Doflamingo.
Tell him I agree to the cooperation he proposed before. This time, I'll go over and discuss it in person."
'The golden ship?'
Tanaka's expression changed slightly. He had not expected his master to mobilize that ship forged entirely from gold.
That thing had been prepared by Lord Tesoro so that he would have power even in the New World.
But it had never been activated up until now. For this meeting with Doflamingo... was he planning to cooperate completely?
The most violent family and the richest man joining forces?
Even so,
he showed not the slightest sign of doubt and simply lowered his head. "Understood. I'll make preparations immediately."
"Mm."
Tesoro thought for a moment, then added, "Oh right, didn't we buy some valuable information earlier?
Release it. Let this world become a little more lively."
"Th-This..."
Tanaka looked up in astonishment,
because that piece of information would be absolutely unfavorable to the Donquixote Family!
"Hmm? Do you have an opinion?"
Tesoro frowned, his icy gaze pinning him like a sharp blade.
Tanaka shuddered all over, but still tremblingly said, "I'm only worried because releasing that information would be harmful to the Donquixote Family.
But at the same time, you're also preparing to personally go to Dressrosa. Wouldn't that mean..."
"Hmph. I have my own plans."
Tesoro's gaze softened slightly, but his tone allowed no refusal. "Go do it. Spread the news that the Donquixote Family has lost a very important source of raw materials, and send it into the territory controlled by Yonko Kaido."
"Although we can't enter Wano, there's no problem with the outlying strongholds."
Tanaka nodded, then disappeared once more.
Tesoro tilted his face toward the ceiling, his eyes turning somewhat cold.
A prophet, huh... You'd better truly be one, and you'd better really have foreseen this scene.
(End of Chapter)