After the construction of Hidden Harbor was completed, the pace at which Kurozumi Orochi built up his strength immediately accelerated significantly. However, this was only relative.
In the original story, after he became Shogun and allied with Kaido, he still made Oden dance for nearly five years. One must not be hasty about this; if one truly wishes to accomplish something great, one cannot be impatient.
Ren, however, paid no mind to the situation on Kurozumi Orochi's side. In Ren's view, everything was built upon power.
Although he already possessed immense strength when exerting his full power, as long as there was still room for improvement, he should continue to press forward.
Compared to his Devil Fruit abilities, his Haki was a complete shortcoming. Although his Armament Haki had reached the level of internal destruction, and his Observation Haki had been enhanced considerably even in his unreceived state due to the amplification from the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, it was still not enough.
As for the Conqueror's Haki among the three types of Haki, Ren had almost no way to train it consciously since he had no reference to follow. However, he did discover that his Conqueror's Haki was constantly improving.
Speaking strictly of Haki, there was still a significant distance between Ren and the peak of this world. The power of Haki is the power of the heart and the power of will; in battle, it often achieves the effect of a rapid breakthrough.
It was just that there were basically no opponents in Wano who could force him to go all out.
After the absorption of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was complete, Ren had originally intended to focus his attention on Okuninushi. However, Kurozumi Higurashi sent a message at that moment; she had found a Devil Fruit—the Zoan-type, Bat Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire.
It was already on its way back.
"Found it already so soon?" Ren remarked in surprise. Actually, it couldn't be considered very fast; nearly a year had passed since he first mentioned this fruit to Kurozumi Higurashi.
However, Ren had originally estimated that finding it within two or three years would already be considered very fast.
"Yes. According to Higurashi, she encountered some archaeologists while selling the gold from the Golden City on the black market. Later, she used their knowledge to locate this fruit," Yukiko roughly recounted the information Kurozumi Higurashi had provided at the time.
"The key is that you, Lord Ren, provided a lot of information to begin with, including the location of Sleepy Town. As long as one is willing to look, it can eventually be found."
"That's true. But in that case, the absorption of Okuninushi will have to be put on hold again," Ren laughed. He hadn't felt any changes in his appearance over the past two years; it was possible his situation was special, so he wouldn't age easily.
The others, however, were a different story. Yukiko had undergone a significant transformation over the past two years; she had even grown up physically quite a bit.
This reminded Ren that Yukiko was turning eighteen this year. In her own eyes, this age was somewhat in-between, nothing particularly special. But in Ren's view, she would only truly be considered an adult after passing this birthday.
Since it was such an important day, he needed to prepare a gift with care. To that end, he had made a special trip to Onigashima to bring back the stockpiled Zoan Devil Fruits, planning to select one to create a mythical creature for her.
The strength of the created creature was of secondary importance; the most crucial thing was that it had to be aesthetically pleasing. The one Ren eventually settled on was a Bird-Bird Fruit, Model: Bird of Paradise.
The one about to eat this fruit was a Komainu caught from the Guardian Forest. While this fox-like creature didn't possess any special skills, its fur was quite flowing, with the hair on its four legs and tail fluffy like clouds, giving it a slight resemblance to a lion.
This particular Komainu was very small in size.
However, before feeding it, a thought suddenly occurred to Ren.
"What if, instead of feeding it the fruit, I directly extract the animal soul from the Devil Fruit? Could I create a power holder who isn't afraid of water, just like myself?"
This idea essentially meant giving others the ability to receive. And if it really succeeded, perhaps he could create true "magical beasts"!
"Yukiko, I have a different idea. Go bring me a few more Devil Fruits, the most useless kinds will do." Ren put down the Komainu, and Saori, who had been standing nearby, immediately bent down to pick it up. "Saori, you go bring some animals over as well."
Yukiko nodded and selected some relatively ordinary Devil Fruits. Among them were several Dog-Dog Fruits and some Lizard Fruits.
Saori brought over a batch of pigeons.
"What are you planning to do, Lord Ren?"
"Just conducting a little experiment." Ren didn't answer directly, but instead picked up a fruit while a purple magic circle lit up beneath his feet. Both Saori and Yukiko recognized this as the precursor to Ren's receiving ability.
They just couldn't figure out why Lord Ren wanted to receive these fruits.
But soon they would understand.
They watched as Ren pulled a constantly twisting, translucent object from the Devil Fruit. At first glance, this thing looked like a clump of viscous mercury, though spherical in shape, it slowly morphed into the form of a small puppy.
"It's an Akita dog," Saori whispered.
Then they watched as Ren stuffed this thing into a pigeon's body.
Soon, the pigeon's body began to change, constantly shifting between Akita dog and half-bird-half-dog forms. After adapting for a while, its form settled into a half-bird-half-dog state, looking quite comical.
"Because the pigeon couldn't defeat the canine animal soul, it can only maintain a half-received state?"
"Ah, it's so ugly..." Saori exclaimed in shock.
Next, Ren brought out Seastone and proved that the pigeon in this form was indeed not affected by Seastone. However, just as Ren was about to try stuffing a second fruit's animal soul into its body, an accident occurred.
The pigeon's body exploded like it had been stuffed full of fireworks.
"Can't use two animal souls at the same time?" After all, only Ren could use receiving magic; others couldn't receive multiple devil souls.
"Then what if one receives one, then eats a Devil Fruit? Or instead of using a Devil Fruit, directly use a real animal soul?"
Ren had several ideas he wanted to verify, and he took this opportunity to try them all. He didn't feel bad about those ordinary Zoan Devil Fruits. However...
Looking at the blood that had just splattered, Ren decided to move the experiment to a different location.
"Have someone come clean this up."
Ren moved the experiment to the training grounds, where Jasmine was practicing swordsmanship with Shoubu and the Yayoi sisters. When they saw Ren, they stopped and gathered around to greet him.
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