Chapter 356: Preparations Before the Great Battle
"Borsalino? How are you?" Sengoku didn't even realize his voice was a little hoarse.
"Other than the two holes in my stomach, there's nothing major wrong," Borsalino's nonchalant tone relieved Sengoku, and the stone that had been hanging over his heart finally dropped.
"Aokiji will be able to arrive at Punk Hazard soon to take over your duties, and I've also received word from Vegapunk that he managed to escape Punk Hazard safely," Sengoku continued. "What is the current situation at Punk Hazard?"
"Most of the Marines are lightly injured, and a few... unfortunately perished," Borsalino surveyed the area. "All the warships docked at the harbor have been sunk, and all the coastal defense turrets have been destroyed..."
"Ah~" Borsalino scratched his head. "Looks like Aokiji has his work cut out for him~"
"..." After a moment of silence, Sengoku finally spoke up, asking for the details of the battle. "Which member of the Dawn Pirate Crew did you fight? And who left those wounds on you?"
Excluding the initial mistake where most of the Dawn Pirate Crew members slipped away right under his nose, and removing the part where he didn't give his all while fighting Scáthach and Esdeath, not to mention his tactical retreat towards the end of the battle...
In short, a vague battle report was presented to the Fleet Admiral, and Sengoku's temples started to throb again.
"Sengoku-sama," Borsalino changed his usual sarcastic tone to one of unusual seriousness. "The combined strength of Esdeath and Scáthach was enough to suppress me..."
"Even though I don't want to admit it, Esdeath's strength has significantly improved compared to last year. The Dawn Pirate Crew may be slightly outnumbered compared to other Yonkou crews, but their top-tier combat power is no less than any of them."
Borsalino recalled Erza, who had easily taken his blow, and the small woman hiding in the crowd. Her strength was on par with Scáthach 's.
Additionally, there was Akame, who always followed Eric , and the Nightmare that could incapacitate ordinary Marines...
After introducing these new members who hadn't yet been offered bounties but were worthy of attention, Borsalino sighed deeply. "Another pirate newcomer with Haoshoku Haki awakened..."
"Thank you for your hard work, Borsalino."
"Indeed~" Borsalino returned to his usual tone. "If possible, I'd like to rest..."
"I'm giving you one month to recover from your injuries," Sengoku interrupted Borsalino. "Report back to Marine Headquarters at the end of next month."
Without giving Borsalino a chance to argue, Sengoku ended the call.
"Ah~" Borsalino scratched his head. "What was I going to say..."
"Never mind, I can't remember."
Borsalino looked out towards the horizon, where the Marine fleet was slowly emerging.
Along with them, Borsalino wore a happy smile, the kind of content smile someone gets after clocking out for the day.
…
"These materials were brought from Punk Hazard?" Da Vinci pulled out a research document and started to examine it carefully.
"Yes." Eric nodded. "But Vegapunk should have taken his latest research with him, leaving behind these older or failed experiments."
"Even if they are older failed experiments, they're still helpful to my research. They'll help me avoid many wrong research paths and save a lot of time," Da Vinci praised. "Eric , this mission was well done!"
"Wow... Ancient Giant's gigantism experiments." Da Vinci became immersed in his world, muttering to himself, "Based on the bloodline factors extracted from the ancient giants, a gigantism drug was successfully developed."
"Injecting this drug into criminals' bodies, it successfully gigantified them, recreating the power and physique of the ancient giants, but all the subjects showed low intelligence and barbaric behavior..."
"Then the gigantism drug was further improved. To better match the ancient giants' bloodline factors, ancient dinosaur bloodline factors were selected for recoding and fusion. The resulting drug made the subjects' appearance more dinosaur-like..."
"The ancient giants created this way also had low intelligence and were uncontrollable... So, it was decided to dispose of these ancient giants."
Da Vinci lifted his head from the thick documents and asked Eric , "Do you also want to create ancient giants?"
"Mm." Eric admitted, "We can have Akame use her Eight Death to control them. Their lack of intelligence doesn't matter."
"I see." Da Vinci started flipping through more materials. "The method of fusing biological bloodline factors is excellent. It demonstrates the ancient giants' immense power and even harnesses animal traits..."
"Well, you keep working," Eric quietly left Da Vinci's lab.
Walking out onto the deck, nearly all of the Dawn Pirate Crew were gathered around, watching Gin 's dragon form.
"Gin , you look so imposing now..." Perona reached out to touch the scales on the giant dragon.
"Uh..." Gin , now in dragon form, felt a little embarrassed, his enormous body shrinking slightly.
Esdeath, who was receiving treatment from Wendy, spoke up, "Can you fly?"
"Yes." With Gin 's complete focus, smoke clouds appeared out of nowhere, and the dragon's limbs stepped onto the smoke, gradually rising into the sky.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Yoshino whispered in awe.
Perona, excited, asked, "Can you summon wind and rain, or breathe fire and lightning too?"
"..." After a moment of silence, Gin hesitated, "I don't think I can..."
"Even without fire-breathing or lightning, this is already amazing." Scáthach poked at the dragon's scales with the tip of her spear. "With this massive body and its defense greatly enhanced, it's far superior to ordinary Zoan users."
"Can you switch to a hybrid form?" Eric asked the most important question.
The hybrid form was one of the transformation stages for Zoan-type Devil Fruit users, typically the most suited form for combat.
Kaido's transformation into a dragon was awe-inspiring, but his enormous size caused a massive drop in speed, making him hard to dodge. In his dragon form, his range was stronger, but in most situations, he was still being pummeled by enemies.
Gin 's body was enveloped in dark golden light, shrinking down as his hybrid form emerged in front of the group.
"Whoa!" They all exclaimed.
With four curved dragon horns on his head, arms covered in dark golden dragon scales, and sharp claws on his fingers, Gin , whose appearance was usually plain, now looked exceedingly mighty and fierce.
Gin clenched his fist tightly, "I feel... my strength is rising steadily!"
"The Devil Fruit should only be used as an aid," Scáthach said, her face expressionless. "The most important thing is to improve your own strength, don't get distracted."
Gin stopped, then immediately replied, "Yes, thank you for pointing that out, Scáthach -senpai!"
"Alright, let me test your current level..."
Eric raised an eyebrow, "You just want to fight, don't you?"
"During the battle, Borsalino suddenly ran away," Scáthach said calmly. "That's why I still had energy left unused..."
"That flash bastard hasn't used his full power in the battle," Esdeath said coldly. "Once I catch him, I'll make sure he experiences the taste of interrogation!"
"Ah, so you were still hurt by Borsalino?" Kurumi teased from the side.
"Would you like to visit my interrogation room?"
"Heh..."
◇
The next day, news of the Dawn Pirate Crew's attack on Punk Hazard and their new bounty notices spread across the seas.
"Kaido-sama," King handed Kaido a newspaper. "I'm afraid we won't be able to purchase the Banchou from Punk Hazard anymore."
"Damn brat!" Kaido smashed the bottle in his hand, beginning to sob. "Why is it always you messing with me?!"
"However, the weapons trade hasn't been interrupted. The World Government has sent CP0 to Wano, and they should be arriving in a few days."
"Is that so? Let Orochi handle it," Kaido waved his hand and opened a jar of alcohol to drink.
"Also, I heard some rumors..."
"Hm?" Kaido stopped his action, turning his eyes to King.
"I heard the World Government has successfully created an artificial Devil Fruit, but it was taken by the Dawn Pirate Crew."
"!" Kaido's eyes widened slightly, his ambition swelling in his gaze as a bold plan formed in his mind.
"And this artificial Devil Fruit was made using blood extracted from you, Kaido-sama."
"!"
…
"How did you get injured?" Aokiji scratched his messy curly hair.
"First, I was stabbed by the Magic Spear, then stabbed by the Ice Queen," Borsalino spoke casually, as if talking about something unrelated to him.
Aokiji's eyes became unusually serious, and he lowered his voice to ask, "…Their strength, really improved that much?"
"Hey hey hey~" Borsalino raised his voice a little, "Kuzan, do you think I got injured on purpose? The wounds are still hurting now!"
"No, no," Aokiji quickly waved his hands, his back slowly sinking into the couch. "I didn't expect them to really..."
His voice trailed off: 'Darren Eric , what exactly are you trying to do? You deliberately attacked an island belonging to the World Government, and it's a crucial Marine base! If you keep going down this path, you'll be trapped in…'
"In any case, they've truly become a formidable pirate crew that can't be ignored," Borsalino looked up. "Maybe from the moment they entered the New World, they've come to fight for their survival against the older pirate crews."
Aokiji: "..."
"Since Kuzan, you're taking over my job," Borsalino stood up. "I can now rest and recover..."
"Don't worry, they probably won't attack Punk Hazard again."
Aokiji froze, slightly straightened his body, "Why do you say that?"
Borsalino didn't answer, only waving his hand in farewell.
…
"Have they arrived?" A middle-aged man with gray-green hair widened his eyes, involuntarily trembling with excitement.
A woman with a curvaceous figure and wheat-colored skin asked curiously, "Gild Tesoro-sama, what's so exciting?"
A man with a head larger than his body also looked at Gild Tesoro.
"To slaughter the Celestial Dragons... no," Gild Tesoro said, "Darren Eric and Esdeath-sama, who have brought the wrath of the heavens down on the Celestial Dragons, have finally arrived in the New World!"
"But the Dawn Pirate Crew was already in the New World last year, and they killed your partner Doflamingo, Gild Tesoro-sama. Unfortunately, we couldn't find them back then..."
"This time is different. The Dawn Pirate Crew will never leave the New World easily! Bakara, try to absorb as much luck from the people on this island," Gild Tesoro stood up and clenched his fist. "I'm setting sail to find the Dawn Pirate Crew, they should be headed this way!"
This lavishly dressed man, covered in gold jewelry, was the future King of Gold, Gild Tesoro.
At thirty-two years old, he hadn't yet completed his colossal ship, the Gran Tesoro, and was currently holed up on an island in the New World, running a casino.
His public identity was a top-tier artist and casino owner, but secretly, his business was an illegal bank serving the world's criminals, controlling the entire underground world.
With his exceptional business acumen, Tesoro had now become the world's richest person.
After Doflamingo's death, his large deposit in the illegal bank was left unclaimed, which Tesoro gladly accepted.
"Gild Tesoro-sama, what about the giant ship Gran Tesoro that's under construction?" the large-headed Tanaka asked. "Should I go ask the Dawn Pirate Crew to come to the casino?"
"Of course, I'll personally invite them to show sincerity," Tesoro refused. "You stay at the shipyard, and Bakara and I will set sail to find the Dawn Pirate Crew!"
"I understand, Gild Tesoro-sama." Tanaka chuckled lowly and bowed before stepping back.
After tidying up, Tesoro and Bakara set sail that very day.
…
To prepare for the coming formidable enemies, Eric decided to spend the bond points in advance to enhance the crew's strength.
As the top-tier member of the
crew, Esdeath spent 18 bond points, increasing her constitution from eight stars to nine stars, and her attribute panel became:
[Constitution: Nine Stars]
[Swordsmanship: Eight and a half stars]
[Armament Haki: Nine stars]
[Observation Haki: Eight stars]
[Haoshoku Haki: Nine stars]
[Devil Fruit: Nine stars]
[Comprehensive Battle Power: Nine stars]
Scáthach also spent 18 bond points, increasing her constitution and Armament Haki:
[Constitution: Nine stars]
[Spear: Nine and a half stars]
[Armament Haki: Nine stars]
[Observation Haki: Eight and a half stars]
[Haoshoku Haki: Nine stars]
[Devil Fruit: Seven stars]
[Comprehensive Battle Power: Nine stars]
The earliest crew member, Akame, spent 15 bond points to increase swordsmanship and Armament Haki:
[Constitution: Eight stars]
[Swordsmanship: Eight stars]
[Armament Haki: Seven stars]
[Observation Haki: Six and a half stars]
[Comprehensive Battle Power: Eight stars]
The elegant time spirit, Kurumi Tokisaki, spent 22 bond points to enhance constitution and Devil Fruit:
[Constitution: Seven stars]
[Spearsmanship: Seven stars]
[Armament Haki: Seven stars]
[Observation Haki: Seven and a half stars]
[Devil Fruit: Eight stars]
[Comprehensive Battle Power: Seven and a half stars]
The gentle ship doctor Wendy, spent 8 bond points to improve her constitution:
[Constitution: Four stars]
[Magic (Type: Lost Magic·Sky's Destruction Dragon): Five and a half stars]
[Armament Haki: 0]
[Observation Haki: Two stars]
[Devil Fruit: Six stars]
[Comprehensive Battle Power: Four stars]
The beautiful voice singer, Miku , spent the last 3 bond points to increase her constitution:
[Constitution: Three stars]
[Armament Haki: 0]
[Observation Haki: 0]
[Devil Fruit: Six stars]
[Comprehensive Battle Power: Three and a half stars]
Lastly, Eric himself spent 10 achievement points to increase his constitution:
[Constitution: Nine and a half stars]
[Spear: Eight and a half stars]
[Armament Haki: Nine stars]
[Observation Haki: Eight stars]
[Devil Fruit: Nine stars]
[Haoshoku Haki: Nine stars]
[Comprehensive Battle Power: Nine stars]
After spending all the accumulated points, Eric felt like an impulsive shopper after a double 12 sale, full of excitement. He was about to passionately discuss the great plans for the future when he was interrupted by Chiron's sudden report:
"Captain, a ship is heading toward us!"
(END CHAPTER)
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