Foreword:
I did a few mistakes in the chapter before. I'm quite sure you can tell i edited it a lot and some action's repeat themselves. I really hope it's not too bad. This might be the consequence of writing on the phone...
I also wanted to say this. Someone mentioned the staff having a lot more abilities. I figured that three abilities per gem would create Seven spells and golems boosts, which would be pretty good already. But there are smaller spells still imbued in the staff or whatever.
And about the 7 gems. Three of them were : Sun, Moon and Time. It might be easier to regard them as : Holy, Death, Space/Time.
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Ch 16
'He is strange.'
Capone Bege was watching as the man from the Gambino family entered his room. The guy had come alone, as promised, and stood in front of his desk, showing not even a hint of nervousness. He had insisted on keeping a knife on himself during the meeting, but in exchange, weapons would be pointed at him at all times.
'Really strange...'
The man was dressed like a thug. Accustomed to how negotiations worked, he simply stayed silent and waited for Bege to start speaking.
They looked at each other for a moment before Bege started speaking.
"Bring the fruits."
One of his men brought two suitcases and opened them, laying them down on the desk in order for the thug to see them.
The thug only sent both fruits a glance and shrugged with a mocking smirk.
"Looks authentic to me. Not like I could tell a difference."
Bege frowned a bit at the man's relaxed attitude but decided against saying anything.
The thug caught the cue and opened a suitcase of his own.
"Tadaah. Feel free to count."
500 million berry.
Bege frowned. They did not even try to pull anything. They genuinely just wanted those devilfruit's.
"What will you do with them."
The thug's smirk widened.
"The boss wants to open a bakery. The bread bread fruit is perfect for that. And the Zoan is just decoration. For the Garden."
A ridiculous statement but it's meaning was clear. There was no information to gain here.
Seeing Capone's hesitation, the thug suddenly frowned.
"Hey hey hey. You're not really thinking of pulling something aren't you? I'll be punished! I'm just a little guy here! A cute little guy! Come one, you wouldn't really want me to be punished,would you?"
"Relax, here are your devilfruits."
The man's ridiculous behavior was simply overlooked as both suitcases were simply handed to him.
He stared at them for a moment before simply closing the suitcases and giving Bege a sloppy bow.
"Pleasure doing business with you. Feel free to contact us in the future. We want more of them."
He was dismissed with a wave of the hand and escorted back to the ship.
Bege stared at the money. "This is ridicoulous..."
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'This is ridiculous.'
Soon to be Rear admiral Jonathan, watched as a little girl with a spear fought against one of his men. The man was just average. Not bad but simply someone who had fought pirates before and lived. Yet he was being pushed back.
By a 9-year old girl with a spear.
The girl twirled her wooden spear around like a staff and even used it to push herself off the ground in order to gain height.
'What monstrous talent.'
Granted, the girl had received a potion to enhance her stamina, speed and strength but she was 9 for god's sake.
This was her third match. The first one had ended rather quickly with a simple over head strike being barely blocked by the Marine, and the followup consisting of said Marine's family jewels being smashed by the blunt side of the spear.
The second one had underestimated her again, thinking the first fight was just a stroke of luck. He had quickly been pushed on the defensive and despite being able to retaliate, he still ended up losing.
The current fight was a bit more intense. The Marine in front of her was taking her seriously and used every advantage he could get, immediately pushing her defense but the girl's creativity with the spear gave her a lot of mobility. Although the "weak" potions given by Ainz, who stood watching in the corner, proved to be quite powerful, it was not enough to thwart the experience of her opponent who managed to force up her defense with a kick and quite literally take the spear away from her.
Yet, despite her loss, the 9-year old had nearly overhelmed a Marine soldier who had at least 10 years of experience over her.
He considered sending those three to a special training regiments, because this really was ridiculous.
The worst thing? The girl was frustrated.
Like really frustrated. Sitting on the ground, tears welled up in her eyes before she jumped up, her voice loud but laced with obvious frustration.
"AGAIN! I WANT TO KNOW WHY i lost...
...i was winning at first..."
The Marine who had beaten her was taken aback by her Frustration, but quickly tried to explain that her fighting style was too explosive and held no structure. She did good work of covering her defense in mid air, but left herself open during her landings which he could exploit. He also told her that she did not focus enough on her grip on her weapon, which was something she would have to get used to over time in order to avoid losing it.
The girl frowned hard but thanked the Marine's for the spar after being nudged by her mother.
'That girl will surely join the Marines.'
She had shown exceptional Talent and talked about protecting civilians "just like her friend Ainz." She also happened to train every single day after having asked Ainz how to become strong. The man in question had simply answered that "not getting hit is always a good start." That resulted in her adopting a high movement style, which consisted of avoiding and weaving through attacks.
Her choice of weapon was a bit strange. The spear or staff was not a favored weapon for Marine, but she had pushed away any other suggestion with the stubbornness you'd expect from a 9-year-old.
Meanwhile, Ainz stood in the corner like a statue. He did not move, still facing the battlefield.
Closing in on him, he heard a few mutterings.
"So, the Aura followed and supported her movements? And small bits of it seemed to vanish during her attacks? Like a melee skill back in Yggdrasil? Was she using Armament Haki? Does every attack with it count as a skill?"
Jonathan did not catch everything he said, but he doubted his ears a little upon registering what he had thought to hear.
There was no way a 9-year-old used Haki. And she didn't. He had watched the whole fight and had not picked up anything, and there was just no way for a young girl like her to use it.
"...but the amount she used was negligible. Like a very small skill that uses next to no mana... Would she get better at using it if I were to cast [Greater Full Potential]?
Ainz's mutterings were unclear, and he stopped upon noticing Jonathan closing in on him.
"Ahh, Rear Admiral Jonathan." Ainz's tone was flattering, and Jonathan had to admit that it worked. "This girl truly is talented, isn't she?"
Jonathan smiled. "Indeed, I'm afraid she put our Marines to shame."
He turned his head and watched as the three grown men were being laughed at by their friends while they desperately tried to justify their situation.
"But your potion's certainly played a great role in that. They really are impressive. I wonder, is it really alright for you to have given them to her for free?"
"It is no problem. I wanted to test if they'd work as intended."
...
...
...
It apparently took Ainz five entire seconds to realize how messed up that sounded.
"Not that there were any risks. I already knew it would work and that there would be no side effect's."
"Sure."
His answer was a crystal clear reflection of his beliefs in the way that it mirrored his statement by reversing it.
Yet he did not push on the matter. As disturbing as the merchant's experiments were, he did not want to sour their relationship over such a trivial issue. It had worked and she was alive. He just hoped that Ainz would restrain himself in the future.
He instead led the discussion to Haki. He had noticed Ainz's mutterings about it and wanted to pry a little.
"So, i couldn't help but notice you used Observation Haki to watch that fight?"
That was a lie. Jonathan would soon be promoted to Rear admiral and it was mandatory for rear admirals to know observation and armament Haki. He already knew a bit of both and had used the former in order to watch the effect's of Ainz's potion, but the moment he tried to gauge Ainz with it, he noticed the same issue Fujitora had mentioned. He really couldn't sense him. He did not show up when using Observation Haki. There was only a slight moment, when Ainz's eyes had lit up before disappearing again.
He had concluded that to be Ainz losing focus over his Haki, maybe trying to use Observation Haki of his own.
His statement had not been wrong apparently, as Ainz froze.
"Ah yes. I wanted to see little Emi's progress with the Potions. I was surprised at how substantial it seemed."
He decided to push a little. "I couldn't help but overhear you mention Armament Haki..?"
Ainz froze again. He was silently chewing himself out for his mutterings before finally answering.
"Whether you believe it or not, she used a little bit of it. It was negligible sure, but present nevertheless. Nurture her more and you will gain a talent."
The Aura he had seen had been a bit bigger than most Marines, and it actually seemed to work. Her strikes had actually been powered by it, which was not the case for most other Marines.
Commodore Jonathan however, was found to be speechless at his claim.
Eyeing the girl, his thought's were racing.
'There is no way such a little girl can use Armament Haki right now. But Ainz claims she did? Fujitora is a Master of Haki, yet he claimed Ainz's ability to be impressive. That means Ainz should be better than him, right? So did he see something i missed?"
His Observation Haki flared again as he focused on Emi who was standing further away. She still seemed energized, probably because Ainz's potions had yet to lose their effect.
'Hold on, perhaps his potions have something to do with it?'
Then, something happened which completely shattered his understanding of normalcy.
The girl, standing on the other side of the Training field, who looked so focused on her training, suddenly turned around and her gaze locked in on him.
"There is no way..."
She stared at him.
"There is no way she noticed me specifically looking at her through this crowd."
The field was bristling with activity and Marines.
Yet, here she was staring at him.
"There is no way she just used the colour of Observation..."
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While the Commodore was trying to make sense of the Dark Overlord's words, Emi was pondering the words of the Marine who had beaten her. She was swinging her spear and trying to visualize her fight with that guy.
A tingle.
Faint but uncomfortable.
She turned around and immediately locked eyes with a man. She did not exactly understand how she had discovered him so quickly, but in her mind, a single thought surfaced.
'A pervert...'
Her mom had told her about these people. People who stared at others thinking about what her mom had referred to as "strange thoughts."
She was curious about the kind of thoughts these would be, but her mom had told her to stay away from perverts and scream loud when they got close.
The man's jaw suddenly dropped.
She shuddered. Creepy.
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'So, you have them?'
Pastellano looked relaxed. Very relaxed. Unless you looked at his twitching eyebrows. Or his shaking legs.
'Just how excited are you?'
That was the thug's thought as he watched Pastellano trying to maintain his composure. He even considered making a joke but quickly dismissed that idea given the fact it might end in instant execution.
He decided to just nod and open the suitcases.
Pastellano sighed in relief.
"Any complications?"
"None besides curiosity."
"That can hardly be considered complicated."
He just shrugged with a smile. He had come to enjoy talking with Pastellano. The guy was witty and was one of the few who actively responded to his provocations and jokes.
"So, Momonga will finally get his pay. I'm curious if he'll whip out something good out of these."
"I can't really guess what he would do with a Bread bread fruit but the Zoan Leopard fruit should be to his liking."
In the end despite their curiosity, they did not care much. They wanted to show their sincerity towards Momonga in order to get access to more powerful things.
"Haahh, i'll go contact him. He usually goes for walks at anytime of the day."
Receiving the an answer in the form of a distracted nod, he went on his way and started hanging around at one of the roads which gave way to observe the Marine base. He decided to simply get a drink and ask when Momonga was last sighted. The guy had, strangely enough developped a bit of an habit to go for a walk every 9 or so hours, usually been seen leaving the Marine base, disappearing from the city with noone actually seeing him and reappearing sometime later.
So given that guy's random walk schedule, the thug would have to wait around for a bit. He decided to just walk around a bit before that. Ainz had apparently left the base like 2 hours ago and had been seen walking towards the outskirts.
It took the thug less than 10 minutes to reach that place thanks to his knife.
'Figures. The guy just disappeared again.'
A little annoying. Not standing around for a long while, he simply walked over to a passant and asked if he had seen a Big masked passant wearing robes.
...
No one had seen him.
'Maybe he's got teleportation? Like store himself and unstore himself.'
The thug shook his head at his ridicoulous thought but kept it in mind. The guy's devilfruit had shown to be rather flexible, so it wasn't impossible.
He was about to go back towards the vicinity of the Marine base when he saw something.
In an alley to his left, a black purplish mist started to swirl and grow.
The thug simply stared at it in shock as he watched it reach a size of over 4 meters.
A figure appeared and froze the moment it saw him.
Momonga and the thug stared at each other while the portal disappeared behind him.
...
...
'He can store and unstore himself...'
A grin spread on his face as he entered the alley.
"Momonga! You should have told me about that ability! You could have given me a lift sometime."
Momonga remained silent for a moment and the thug started getting worried a little. Unbeknownst to him, Momonga was considering wiping the thugs memory but dismissed it when noticing how seemingly unbothered he was by the [Gate].
"I suppose it was good of me to keep that ability for myself then."
"Hahah, don't be like that! I have good news!"
"Ohh?" Momonga was immediately interested. He was still waiting for his shipment after all.
"We got you your Devilfruits!"
"Hoo. I assume Pastellano has them?"
"Yep. But honestly, you're rather calm about this. Do you know how difficult it is to find these things? I was in danger for a moment, you know?
"I see."
"..."
"..."
"Man, you're no fun."
The two of them started walking as Momonga immediately headed for Pastellano's residence.
The thug considered asking him to use the teleportation thingy, but dismissed the idea. As curious as he was, Pastellano's residence wasn't that far away.
"So, what are you gonna do with them?"
Momonga seemed to think for a moment.
"I am not sure yet. This bread bread fruit does not seem that useful. Object's cannot train their devilfruit after all. I might just keep it for later dealings. Same with the Zoan. I'll research them a bit before making any decisions."
Momonga threw him a glance. He was aware that the thug and pastellano thought he'd use those devilfruits in order to create more items and that was alright for him.
It did not take long to arrive at the Residence and he and the thug simply barged in without knocking. It had obviously startled Pastellano a bit, but he honestly hid it pretty well.
"Hahh. No point in telling you off, I suppose. You heard the news?"
Momonga nodded as he approached.
"Indeed, I did. I assume these are the ones?"
Pastellano nodded. He had simply laid them out on the table and watched along with the thug as Momonga picked the breadfruit up with obvious interest. He looked at it for a moment and then simply stored it, the leopard fruit following soon after.
"I thank you very much. If you find any more, feel free to contact me as soon as possible. These scrolls here have... radio waves stored inside. You can simply take one, say "Message," and think about me. I'll gladly trade more with you again."
The thug and Pastellano were a bit taken aback. Was he already leaving? It did not sound like he was going to travel anywhere close by.
"That's a bit abrupt, isn't it?"
Pastellano smiled, but his mind was churning. He would have liked a lot more of these items, and him leaving was an inconvenience. The worst thing was that he was only interested in Devil Fruits to the point that money seemed trivial to him. And finding Devil Fruits wasn't exactly easy.
The thug was worried as well. But for a different reason entirely.
"Can I travel with you?"
The statement had Momonga confused and Pastellano annoyed. Momonga thought a little before answering both their questions.
"I suppose it is a bit abrupt. But truth be told, I never did plan on staying here. Being a merchant is something I do on the side in order to cover the expenses for traveling."
He then turned towards the thug.
"You said you wish to come as well? What is the reason for that?"
The thug did not think a lot about his answer.
"I want to travel a bit as well. And I figured I could make myself useful. Having an assistant in order to conduct your business could be good, you know?"
Momonga mulled it over a bit. It was true that he had learned a lot about the world from that thug, but he did not believe him to be very helpful after this. The guy had no manners and his connections and knowledge were limited to a few islands of the west blue.
He however, was planning on heading towards the GrandLine.
"I apologize, but i will most likely go alone. It allows for more freedom and i heard the Grandline is rather dangerous. You are hardly powerful enough."
The surprise overtook Pastellano and the thug again, although a bit more frustrations at the thugs side.
"That... is very ambitious. You are not content with the West blue? You wish to expand towards the GrandLine?"
"Indeed. I am an adventurer at heart after all."
Pastellano was now really panicking. As far as he knew, once Ainz entered the Grandline, they wouldn't be able trade again anytime soon, if ever.
The items created by the store store fruit were important to stave off the other families and the Marine and he wanted more scrolls as well. He HAD to stay longer.
"And when were you planning planning to leave?"
"In about 4 days. That is a lot of time to say goodbye to the villagers and thank the Marines for their hospitality."
The thug was still frustrated but his eyes widened alongside Pastellano's. They exchanged glances. Carlambino was planning to make a move against the Marine soon, because they had captured one of the ships. They were specifically trying to catch Commodore Jonathan, who was soon to be promoted to rear admiral.
'Is he leaving to stay neutral? Is he friends with that Commodore? Does he just want to avoid souring the relationship with the Marine?'
The thug was thinking as well, trying to find a way to get Momonga to change his mind about going to the Grandline. It was a place for the monsters of the seas and he was nowhere near ready to go to such a place now. His eyes widened as he remembered the events of earlier this day.
Momonga was about to leave as the Silence stretched on when the thug suddenly spoke up.
"Momonga. If you grant me a few strong items. And give me a little time. I can come with you. I'll stay training these items here and you'll get me after 3 months."
Pastellano's face lit up. If the thug managed to lure him into staying for a bit, it would be a massive boost for the family. They'd have time to think things through and get him to keep furnishing their family.
Momonga's answer was immediate.
"3 months you say? Very well. But only if you find a few connections for trade in the Grandline. Tomorrow morning, in front of the base, you may choose a few items."
He then turned towards Pastellano, bowed a bit and spoke.
"Thank you very much. Do not forget to contact me. I shall take my leave now."
Pastellano sighed in relief. The thug noticed that and wore a wide grin on his face.
'He probably thinks Momonga is staying.'
He started laughing. There was no he was telling him.
'I'll need to find a way off his island soon. Pastellano will hunt me down once he notices Momonga's disappearance. I need to find a way to make connections in the Grandline as well.'
He and Momonga left the Residence soon after and they separated ways, with Momonga reminding him to think about what items he wants and meet him tomorrow.
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That evening, another emergency meeting happened. Carlambino and his trusted advisors met up in the same residence as last time. This had been another meeting called by Pastellano, and he and the thug were present.
The atmosphere was a bit tense, and a lot of the seats were empty due to the briskness of the meeting, but there were Den Den Mushi instead. But one seat was notably empty and devoid of Den Den Mushi. He had been captured by the Marine.
"Pastellano. What happened?"
His son bowed.
"Father. This is about the Merchant, Momonga."
Of course it was.
"He is planning to leave for the Grand Line."
The people present froze.
"Now?"
"In three months' time."
Carlambino thought a little. They had already started using the poison. Around half the bottle had been used to kill a few executives of the other five families, and it had worked splendidly.
They had targeted troublesome individuals who had eaten devil fruits or were built like trucks. The killing itself was not important. The message behind it was. That they could easily take out people, no matter their strength. The autopsies of those families would give no logical cause. They'd simply find a dried smudge of liquid, but they probably wouldn't pay attention to it.
They were now looking to find an opportunity to kill the Marine Commodore. That rear admiral Strawberry was a good option as well but he never seemed to stay anywhere.
Someone interjected. "He received his payment and just wants to leave?"
Another. "He only has an interest in Devilfruits, doesn't he? Does he expect finding more in the Grandline?"
"It it the attack? He knows our goals and wants to stay out of it?"
The thug was visibly sweating. Good. Carlambino's mouth curved up at that. The guy had become arrogant and disrespectful and was probably nervous now that the Person giving him value was about to leave.
"You. If you manage to get him to stay here longer, you will be rewarded."
Pastellano spoke up immediately after.
"Father. Momonga was originally planning to leave in 4 days time. He already managed to squeeze 3 months out of him."
The looks in the room which had changed to shock at Momonga's would be impromptu departure, changed to reluctant admiration. Carlambino himself was surprised at that. His surprise grew when he saw the thug visibly sweatdrop and murmure something that resembled. "Oh, i'm so gonna be hunted down..."
Ignoring the guy's strange behavior he went back thinking about the issue at hand.
"If he is planning to leave soon. We need to either find a way to tie him down, or squeeze out anything we can out of him. In fact, we will delay the operation to kill that Commodore. We will focus on the merchant and have him stay here longer."
He looked as his son.
"But Pastellano. Do you think we can force him to stay?"
A few people turned heads and the thug himself looked torn between shock, stress and amusement.
He continued.
"This Momonga or Ainz was estimated to be strong in our dear Grunt's opinion. What do You think?"
Pastellano seemed to think a little.
"I believe him to be rather strong. He has many troublesome items and has most likely many countermeasures against everything. He did singlehandedly kill the Pollo pirates and is a very meticulous person."
Carlambino leaned back a little. That was bothersome. A merchant like that shouldn't just leave.
"Very well. We will focus on the other families. They are already panicking, their best men dead. We can carefully pick them off one by one."
The meeting ended not long after. The thug left the hall in great strides. He had regained his confidence.
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The next day. The thug waited for Momonga at the designated place. To say he wasn't stressed out would be a lie. He had managed to make a small plan in order to save himself from the Mafia's wrath after they'd notice that Momonga would actually leave in 3 days, but it all came down to Momonga's items.
He did not wait long and soon, Momonga's towering figure approached him.
"Good morning. I assume you have an idea of what you want?"
The thug's grin seemed more nervous.
"Yea, i'd like a deathpotion. And a few knifes. I'll train myself up in the next 3 months."
"And the deathpotion? It sounds like you already have a target in mind?"
"I do. I'm in a bit of a pickle, so i'm gonna launch an attack on the Marine commodore in a few days. They will hopefully connect it to the Gambino family and i will disappear during the chaos. By the way, how are you going to find me in three months?"
Momonga froze a little.
"I see. Do not worry about how i will find you. I have my ways. But about your target..."
"The gambino family already decided to dispose of him soon anyway. I just want the Marine to strike at the family."
"And you are aware that he has a few of my items?"
The thug just shrugged.
"I don't have to succeed.
I just need the family to take the blame."
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Ainz was a bit torn. The news he had received meant that the Marine base would suffer an attack soon. Given the items he had passed around, the family had a good chance of success.
'Actually, the thug's ploy might work in the Marine's favor.'
It was essentially a wake-up call. The Marines would be hit, but the thug wouldn't truly be able to hurt them as much as the Mafia could. The Marines would retaliate against the family, and the thug would most likely use the items Ainz had given him to stir up some chaos and make a run for it.
And the best thing about it? Ainz wouldn't be there anymore.
The Marines would obviously understand that he had been supplying the Mafia with weapons, and he did not know how they would react. They'd simply place a bounty on him or start chasing him down. His items were useful for these humans, but if they were in the hands of their enemy, it'd be better not to have them at all.
But some things bothered him. The villagers relocation, for one.
Most of them would already be gone before the conflict escalated, but he did not know how these conflicts usually worked and whether civilians would be affected.
'That reminds me. I need to say goodbye to the villagers and Emi. And the Marines as well...'
Truth be told, he did not particularly care much. The only reason he wanted to do so was because he considered it basic manners.
He wasn't exactly very human anymore.
He was currently walking back to the Marine base, planning to inform the commodore of his departure. He considered warning him about the ploy but dismissed the idea. The items the commodore had would help him as long as he avoided the poison. As far as [Mana Essence] showed him, the Commodore had a little Observation and Armament Haki, so he might just end up fine. Especially given the thug's weakness.
He arrived at the base with little fanfare, as everyone had gotten used to his presence. He received a few polite greetings as he simply headed back to his room, where he took out the devil fruits.
"Now, just what exactly are you?"
He examined their appearance first, noting how they were shaped.
The Cat cat fruit, model :Leopard was shaped like a yellow apple, with distint patterns resembling the fur or a leopard.
...
...
And it had cat ears. The fruit had cat ears.
He examined the bread bread fruit right after, in order to compare them.
It was a pear which looked like a loaf of broad. A rather simple design.
'So, if someone were to eat them, they'd be able to transform into a Leopard and control Bread?'
He stared at it for a moment before casting his spell.
[Mana Essence]
His eyes glowed green as he stared at the small Aura emanating from the Devilfruit. The Aura of both fruits was a little different from each other.
'Like Fujitora's when he manipulated gravity but smaller and ... dormant.'
"So devilfruits aren't equal then. Their Aura starts at different points and most likely rises with the skill of the user..."
It meant there was a Devilfruit somewhere out there which could be considered the strongest.
"I assume this one can turn things into bread? Maybe there is some kind of super hard bread which it can emulate to create a sword or something. Seems kind of useless beyond that."
[Status]
The panel which showed up did not explain much. It confirmed the name and type of fruit along with their rarity. But that was it.
"Well, i suppose i will keep them for now. Maybe i should give them to someone to eat one day. That thug maybe? He wants to travel with me after all."
He quickly set the fruits back in his inventory and headed for the Commodore to inform him of his departure.
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A little girl could be seen running through the corridors of the marine base. She wanted to say goodbye to Ainz!
She had recently been told by the Marines to pack her stuff in order to move. She was soon going to live in a provisional village outside of the town. It had been built for them over the last few weeks, and it was finally ready.
Emi was rather excited but also a little sad. She wouldn't be able to train as much. But who knows, maybe Ainz would live there as well!
She soon arrived at his quarters and simply entered the room.
"Hmm, w-e-ei-ird. There is no stuff."
She knew about his devil fruit. It was really weird for her to be able to get such cool powers just from eating a fruit. But why did he not put up decoration? His room was worse than that of Morris and his friends!
Emi simply plopped down in the middle of the room and waited for a while. She had sparred with Morris again and had lost. She was a bit angry because she had nearly beaten him, but it turns out he was going easy on her!
So, she was going to ask Ainz for one of his weird drinks. They had made her much stronger last time. And she'd ask if she could mix it with juice because the taste was boring.
She waited there for a while, lazily sprawled on the ground while trying to listen to the sounds of people walking outside of the corridor. It had been really easy after drinking the potion, but it was gone now...
"Emi? What are you doing here?"
"AINZ! I was looking for you!"
Her friend had stepped into the room as she got up from the ground.
"Ohh? Do you want more advice on how to fight?"
Emi did not hesitate.
"NO. I want a potion! The one that makes me stronger. To train!"
"I see. Then take a few."
He simply reached into the air and pulled out several potions of different colors. Dark red, green, and blue. Three of each.
"Ohh. And I also wanted to ask if you knew about the new village!"
Ainz shook his head while writing names on the potions.
"Well, we are going to move to another village outside of Daizu!"
Ainz simply looked at her.
"Oh, really? That is great. But it will be harder for you to train to become a Marine then."
"You can train me!"
Ainz froze a little before resuming his movement with an amused sigh.
"Haaah. Emi, I will leave Soja Island soon."
"...What? Why?"
"I want to travel the world a little more."
She frowned hard. But her mom had told her that Ainz would have to leave one day, so she didn't discuss it too much.
"You will come visit?"
Ainz froze again.
"Sometimes."
She nodded. "Alright then. Where will you go?"
"The Grand Line."
Woahhh. That's dangerous! But Ainz was strong, so it'd be fine.
Thunk. The potions were ready and marked. She read the names he had just written on them.
"Stamina, strength/speed, and focus? What is focus?"
Ainz turned to her, this time giving her his full attention.
"Do you remember any strange sensation of noticing more things during your training?"
She nodded and asked. "Will this help me feel it again?"
Ainz's turn to nod.
"Alright!" She jumped up and gave Ainz a quick hug. She knew he did not like Hugs, which was weird but whatever.
"Then come visit. I will ask the chef of the base to train here sometime so you can just come here to see me!"
Ainz just answered with an "will do" before simply ushering her out the room.
'Rude.' She shrugged. She was gonna go home to her mom now.
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'Still an Handful.'
The sensation of being hugged always stressed him out. He wasn't sure if anyone would notice his skeletal frane through the clothes.
"Well, she took the news rather well."
He had just informed the Commodore of his departure and he had tried to motivate him to join the Marine and even get him a recommendation for the Elite branch.
He had obviously refused and had been given a snail. The snail was apparently a Den Den Mushi and apparently worked like a communication device.
He had considered warning the man of the inpeding attack, but had instead just given him a small totem which had strength stored in it.
...
That had been a lie. It was a toten which gave death resistance. The only reason the Commodore bought his lie was because Ainz buffed him with silent magic and told him to keep the totem on him in order to further his strength.
"And another soul saved. Aren't it magnanimous?"
Ainz did not care much, but leaving him to die left a bad taste in his... jaw.
2 days left. The day after tomorrow, he'd be gone. First thing in the morning.
He was planning to watch Emi train tomorrow a bit, just in order to see if the focus potion would help her for this whole Haki thing. Last time, it had been a potion which boosted her overall stats. He now wanted to know if focus was what influenced Haki. It did apparently come from Willpower after all.
'And i should also say farewell to Fujitora. It'd be only polite.'
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whoaah. I'm struggling. Whatever.
About Emi's Haki. I consider it at a level similar to Luffy's instinct before the timeskip. At any point, i figured that Ainz's potions "help her" awaken it.
I wanted to say something more but i forgot.