In the game from Ren's previous life called Genshin Impact, the Deep Sea Dragon Lizard — Original Species was not a blank-slate creature. It was a Hydro Dragon Lizard.
This was also why these creatures were called Deep Sea Dragon Lizards.
But the Dragon Lizards Stussy had bred now had absolutely nothing to do with water. Even she couldn't figure out why Ren had slapped the words "Deep Sea" on the front of this creature's name.
Was it simply because it had been created in the Enkanomiya at the bottom of the sea?
Though she couldn't figure it out, Stussy couldn't withstand the rod's discipline, so she reluctantly gave up naming rights. And Lucci had also acquired a new designation — no longer an Oni, but a Dragon Lizard Man.
Even as an Original Species, the Deep Sea Dragon Lizard was an apex predator among ordinary animals. Aside from lacking the advantage of flight, both sea creatures and land creatures were its prey.
The Original Species Dragon Lizard that was now kept beneath the Dainichi Mikoshi still stood at the top of the food chain among all created organisms.
However, Lucci — who had received the soul of the Deep Sea Dragon Lizard, Thunder Devourer — still fell short of a true Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit user.
The abilities of Mythical Zoans were bizarre and varied. Even if you only mentioned elemental powers — Marco's and Jasmine's flames were both unique, special fires.
Kaido's Dragon-Dragon Fruit could create Flame Clouds and wield multiple elemental skills.
In comparison, the Deep Sea Dragon Lizard, Thunder Devourer's abilities were rather monotonous.
But no matter how you looked at it, it was far superior to that Cat-Cat Fruit, Leopard Model!
The first batch of kids who grew up in Inazuma had notably better talent than Lucci's batch. That was because Buggy and Enel had raised the ceiling.
This was a world that heavily favored talent. Those with talent didn't even need to train — they could walk the path to becoming the strongest simply by eating and drinking. Someone like Big Mom was the most unreasonable of all.
In truth, Luffy had barely trained either. After the Summit War ended, he finally put in two years of effort, only to end up with a lazy teacher like Rayleigh.
Two years passed, and what did he get? No future sight. No internal destruction with Armament Haki. He didn't even know about Advanced Conqueror's Coating…
What kind of teacher was that?
Even worse — you're Rayleigh, the right hand of the Pirate King. When people heard you were going to train Luffy, it sounded impressive. And the result?
The moment he stepped outside, everyone and their mother had Haki. It was enough to make anyone's blood boil.
Whether Rayleigh was there or not made no difference. So didn't that mean Rayleigh came for nothing?
Two years of training couldn't match three beatings in Wano.
And they call that training?
You could only say that this profession truly demanded talent. Without talent, you wouldn't survive those beatings either.
The second batch of kids who grew up in Inazuma — the most talented were naturally Yamato and Hancock. They possessed all three colors of Haki and were innately fitted for Advanced Conqueror's Coating. This alone put them far ahead of Lucci.
Moreover, Yamato's talent was actually even greater than Hancock's. Having inherited Kaido's bloodline, her physical capabilities exceeded Hancock's. Hancock's martial arts were already formidable, but in terms of raw physical talent, Yamato held the advantage.
However, this gap could be compensated for through training.
In truth, the Empress showed greater talent in Devil Fruit development. In the original story, under her development, the Love-Love Fruit could force Marine rear admirals to injure themselves just to avoid being petrified.
She had even nearly wiped out the entire Blackbeard Pirates.
Not giving a Paramecia fruit to someone with that kind of talent would have been a waste in Ren's eyes. But among the Paramecia fruits Ren currently had, few were suitable for the Empress. Perhaps the Mirror-Mirror Fruit that Oden had seized from the Big Mom Pirates years ago would be a solid choice.
Turning the Empress into a Mirror Maiden sounded pretty exciting.
And Lucci's talent ranked only third.
But even so, he was a once-in-eight-hundred-years genius for CP9. Which really said something about how garbage CP9 was as an organization…
Despite being one of the World Government's three major institutions alongside the Three Admirals and Magellan — each fielding top-tier combat power — Magellan had Admiral-level strength. Meanwhile, Lucci, at his debut, barely qualified as Marine Vice Admiral level at best.
What was that?
You're saying the Three Admirals were also Vice Admirals when they were thirty?
Then never mind.
In any case, in Ren's observation over the years, Rob Lucci was less a genius and more a self-disciplined machine.
This was also why Ren had bestowed upon him the first Deep Sea Dragon Lizard, Thunder Devourer's soul.
With that level of disciplined training, this kid's future achievements would be no less than Yamato's and the others'. He might not cross the Yonko threshold, but holding the gate as a Yonko Commander would be a piece of cake.
…
Sea Circle Calendar, Year 1511.
The Red Hair Pirates' ship drifted through Paradise.
"Shanks, where are you heading?"
Portgas D. An — now grown into a poised young woman — looked quizzically at the red-haired man sitting at the bow. A Yonko and his crew venturing into Paradise was one thing, but it looked like they were about to leave the Grand Line entirely?
"I'm planning a trip to the East Blue. That was our old captain's home. You two would want to see it, right?" Shanks grinned.
After An and Ace joined the Red Hair Pirates, they had never publicly revealed An and Ace's true identities. So aside from Beckman, whose sharp mind had pieced together the truth, the rest of the crew remained in the dark.
On one hand, exposure would be genuinely dangerous. On the other, Shanks felt this was An and Ace's own business. Whether to hide it or come clean — that was their choice.
"I don't want to see it at all."
Ace gritted his teeth while training.
He felt pretty neutral about Roger. With his mother and sister around, he already knew Roger had surrendered because his lifespan was running out. Rouge hadn't died because of Roger either, so there was no real basis for hatred.
But growing up in the West Blue, he'd heard plenty of people calling the Pirate King scum, which hadn't exactly endeared Roger to him.
"Just come along and take a look…" Shanks was at his wit's end dealing with this rebellious Ace.
A few years ago, Ace had still been quite young — quiet and withdrawn. Now that he'd gotten familiar with the crew, his troublesome nature had come out in full force.
In truth, Shanks's trip to the East Blue wasn't as simple as visiting Roger's hometown.
According to his intelligence, the World Government was secretly transporting a treasure — the Gum-Gum Fruit.
Because this timeline's Shanks had visited Laugh Tale under Ren's influence, he knew far more secrets than his original-story counterpart.
The Nika Fruit — known as the Drums of Liberation — must never fall into the World Government's hands!
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