Chapter 100: News from the New World
Jiang Qize rolled his eyes. Why did that sound so annoyingly smug?
"Get me all these materials. As fast as possible."
"You came to me in the middle of the night just for this?" Crocodile raised a brow, his voice low.
"What else?"
"You could've just gone to Celine ."
"Coming to you is more straightforward. You front the money first, and once the materials arrive, I'll pay you back."
Jiang Qize said with a smile, then walked out.
Crocodile glared at his back, and only after he stepped outside did he helplessly pull out a transponder snail.
...
He spent the following days staying in Rainbase, not going anywhere.
Once Crocodile delivered the materials, the wyverns handled transporting them to the designated locations, where Camon assisted the ba wang in fusing them.
Little Robin and the others helped out.
Inside a specially built training chamber—
"19,998… 19,999…"
A young man with a bare torso and black training pants lay braced against the floor, supporting himself with a single finger of his right hand as his body moved up and down.
Sweat covered the floor, and the entire room radiated heat.
"20,000!"
Clear beads of sweat slid down his face and fell to the ground, but his eyes stayed sharp as he pushed up for the final rep.
Jiang Qize stopped, slowly stood, and his breathing thundered like rolling storms.
His broad chest rose and fell, sweat sliding down the clean lines of his abs.
He grabbed a towel beside him, casually wiped his face, and picked up a nearby newspaper.
Charlotte Linlin and Borken clash—both severely injured!
"Big Mom, huh… Still not an Emperor at this point."
A faint smile tugged at Jiang Qize's lips.
But he'd never heard of this pirate Borken—maybe he died before the main story even began.
Still, the paper said he was a 2-billion-berry pirate, one of the rulers of the New World.
"Looks like this era still has plenty of monsters around."
He had been thinking only of the Four Emperors and the three Admirals, but that mindset was already flawed. After all, the story was still twenty years before Luffy set sail—Luffy wasn't even born yet.
In these twenty years, countless pirates would die, and countless wars would break out—events never shown in the original work.
"But no matter how strong any of you are, so what? Heh… Four Emperors? I'll be one of them."
Jiang Qize's grin widened, his eyes gleaming.
Once he reached Skypiea, his strength would skyrocket. Reaching Admiral level in one leap wasn't impossible.
Claiming a spot among the Emperors was guaranteed—not for any grand ambition, but to make the Navy and even the World Government fear him, to buy time for his growth.
He could create powerful fighters in bulk, but who knew what trump cards the World Government might be hiding? They had the most resources and had Vegapunk on their side.
If they created some world-ending weapon and erased him before he could react, that would be the ultimate loss.
So unless he had absolute certainty, he would never reveal all his cards.
Always keep a backup plan—that rule never failed.
Knock, knock, knock!
A knocking sound came from the door.
"Mr. Ze, someone is here to see you."
Jiang Qize raised a brow, puzzled. Who would be looking for him?
If it were Crocodile, he would've just barged in without knocking.
He threw on a white coat, opened the door—
A woman about one-eighty tall, dressed in a black pencil skirt that highlighted her stunning figure, stood at the entrance. Celine held a file in her hand, her red lips curved into a teasing smile.
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