"As expected, Moria had already gotten his hands on these two Devil Fruits long ago."
"There's a good chance he dug them out of some grave."
After setting the boxes down, Blake gave Aramaki a brief word of praise.
"Well done. Did you get into a conflict with Moria?"
Aramaki looked rather disdainful.
"Your Highness, there was a bit of friction, but that guy's combat ability was nothing special. He didn't even have Haki. I only used two moves to defeat him."
That was actually a bit unfair to Moria.
No matter how washed-up he might be, he was still a great pirate who had once survived in the New World. It was not that he literally did not know Haki.
But Haki in this world was a willpower-based thing, and after Kaido had smashed the spirit out of him, it was only natural that Moria could no longer use it.
Seen that way, Kaido's "teaching methods" really were not something an ordinary person could endure.
"Moria lost his spirit after Kaido slaughtered his crew, but that doesn't mean all great pirates are only at this level."
After giving that reminder, Blake saw that Aramaki seemed to take it to heart and said nothing more.
The days that followed returned to peace. Blake once again settled back into a life of training, growing stronger, and sightseeing in different corners of the world.
The next morning, before dawn had fully broken, the faint sound of breathing could be heard in Stella's room.
Suddenly, the door opened, and Perona stuck out her pink-haired little head, furtively peeking around. After making sure no one was there, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
"At last, I've waited for a moment when no one's around."
Perona clenched her small fists.
"That awful guy wants to make me his slave. I have to escape while they're not paying attention."
She carried a little bundle on her back. The moment she took a step, she almost stumbled.
"Damn it! Why is this so heavy?"
Inside the bundle were all the little trinkets Stella had used to amuse her the previous afternoon. Perona had picked through them again and again, only to find that she could not bear to leave any of them behind, so in the end she packed them all up and decided to take everything.
Gritting her teeth, she tiptoed out of the room and gently closed the door behind her.
"Hm? Why did my shadow suddenly get so big?"
The moonlight spilled across the ship, casting Perona's shadow onto the cabin door. Just as she closed it, she saw her shadow abruptly grow much larger.
She turned around very carefully, only to find Blake standing behind her in his sleepwear, a smile full of ill intent on his face.
"I... I was just going to the bathroom..."
Perona could not think of any clever excuse on the spot, so she chose the old approach of treating a dead horse like a living one.
Blake smiled and nodded.
"Guess whether I believe that."
He grabbed Perona by the back of the neck and lifted her up with one hand.
"Damn it! Let me go!"
Like a kitten caught by the scruff, Perona flailed wildly in midair.
Her noise woke Stella, who had been sleeping in the room. She looked up in confusion and saw Blake carrying Perona toward her.
Stella was just about to rise and bow when Blake ignored her completely, pressed Perona down onto the bed, and gave her several firm smacks on her soft little backside, leaving Perona teary-eyed.
"Waaah... you jerk... I'm definitely going to escape..."
Smack! Smack! Smack!
"Waaah... stop hitting me... I won't dare do it again..."
Two months later, Ohara, at the Tree of Knowledge.
"Honored Saint Blake, this is the Tree of Knowledge. It holds hundreds of thousands of books and stores important academic works from scholars all over the world."
At Blake's side stood a short man.
He looked middle-aged. The hair on the front of his head had been shaved clean, leaving only green hair on the crown and back, and together with his exaggerated beard he resembled a giant clover.
He wore a red-and-white striped shirt, a broad belt, trousers, and a blue-black outer coat.
This was the leader of Ohara's scholars: Professor Clover.
Sunlight filtered through specially made glass and fell evenly across bronze bookshelves. Ancient volumes were classified by subject, their spines decorated with bronze nameplates that gleamed in the light.
Suspended spiral shelves forged from special metal hung in midair, their surfaces coated with a matte, corrosion-resistant finish.
Whether in his previous life or this one, this was Blake's first time seeing the inside of the Tree of Knowledge, and he found it rather intriguing.
To be fair, fewer than a million books was not enough to compare with even an ordinary municipal library, but the sheer scale of the Tree of Knowledge and the countless generations of scholars who had modified its interior still gave it a distinctly refreshing feel.
Blake felt that way, and Stella and Perona, who had come along with him, felt it even more strongly.
"Wow! There are so many books here!"
Perona was still being carried in Blake's hand. At not even a meter tall, she looked like an oversized hot dog in the grip of three-meter-tall Blake.
Her eyes shone as she looked around, exclaiming in wonder.
After two months of constantly engaging Blake in a battle of wits and still failing to escape the Sanctuary, Perona was no longer afraid of him at all. In fact, she often provoked him deliberately now, leaving the servants aboard the ship walking on eggshells.
They were terrified that one day Perona would finally push Blake too far, and that his anger would end up falling on them instead.
Blake pinched Perona's little cheek, making her puff up again in irritation.
"This is probably the largest library outside of Mary Geoise. It should have quite a few books on history, right?"
As he spoke, Blake cast a glance at Professor Clover.
Cold sweat immediately broke out on the old scholar's forehead.
What does he mean by that?
Has the World Government already discovered what we've been doing?
No... if the matter with Olvia and the others had truly been exposed, there's no way a Celestial Dragon would personally come here. Calm down... calm down...
Despite the flurry of thoughts in his heart, Clover kept a composed expression.
"May I ask what kind of history Your Highness wishes to read? The books here have all been stored by scholars from around the world."
"To speak frankly, even I have not finished reading everything in the Tree of Knowledge. There are indeed some books on history, though I cannot say whether they will satisfy Your Highness's needs."
Blake let out a soft laugh.
"Then forget it. I was only asking casually."
But inwardly, he thought,
This old man came across as a pure bookworm in the original story. I didn't expect him to have this much quick wit.
In the original story, before the Buster Call was launched, the World Government had actually arranged an evacuation ship so that the civilians on the island could flee.
But when Clover spoke to Saturn, he went on and on for far too long and practically blurted out all of Ohara's research results.
Saturn's reaction had more or less been: So you people have already uncovered this much?
That won't do. You all have to be exterminated.
And only then did he order the Navy to destroy the evacuation ship.
Because of that incident, Blake had always assumed Clover was the honest sort.
But that was not important. Blake had not come here for him in the first place.
It was now the year 1499 of the Sea Circle Calendar. Less than a year remained before the destruction of Ohara. By this point, Robin should already have basically finished learning how to read the ancient language, so Blake had decided to take her away first.
For one thing, having someone by his side who could read the Poneglyph script would save him a great deal of trouble.
Of course, there were definitely people inside the World Government who could read it as well, but those were not people a "useless faction" Celestial Dragon like Blake ought to be interacting with.
For another, Blake genuinely liked Robin's personality in the original story.
And third, Perona was still a child. Without a companion around her own age, it would be all too easy for her to grow into the neurotic version of herself from the original story.
Whatever else she was, she was still his little slave. If she developed psychological problems, that would be troublesome.