I was cut open?
My hardened steel body was cut open by a swordsman.
Vane's answer was that he was no longer just a swordsman, but a swordmaster capable of cutting steel.
If he had arrived even a little earlier, he wouldn't have been broken through by Vane's single strike. Unfortunately, he chose exactly the moment when Calder had finished feeding Vane techniques—his domain, the transparent world—when Vane was brimming with confidence that he could cut through steel.
Vane sheathed his blade and looked at the fallen Bonez. The mysterious question mark above Bonez's head twisted, and in the end spat out a feather.
A blue feather radiating icy cold.
Vane clenched the feather in his palm. Wisps of ice-type energy from it were slowly absorbed into his body, and every single cell of his felt excited by this power.
"This is an Articuno feather."
As he absorbed the energy, a beautiful blue giant bird appeared in Vane's mind—it was one of the three idiots… ahem, one of the Three Sacred Birds, the Ice-type Articuno.
"So Zoan Devil Fruit users drop Pokémon or items used by Pokémon, while Paramecia Devil Fruits drop items I can use."
The energy contained in this Articuno feather would be enough for him to absorb for quite some time. It could enhance his control over ice-type energy and allow his life level to gradually leap forward.
Vane began to look forward to what Logia Devil Fruits or their users might give him.
"Drag him back and treat him."
He didn't kill Bonez, only leaving him with injuries that would require lying in bed for a week. In the pirate world, being bedridden for a week was already considered a serious wound.
Sparing his life had two purposes. First, to verify whether obtaining Pokémon or items from Devil Fruit users required killing them. It now seemed that simply defeating them was enough.
Second, killing Bonez outright would have been a pity.
No matter what Vane planned to do in the future, he would need a team. As for the Rocket Team right now… no, rather, there was only one usable cat and one Pokémon. The others were mostly only good for bullying ordinary pirates. Tant, whom Vane favored, was currently just a bit stronger than an average person.
He didn't keep Calder because he didn't understand that man. Someone who could kill his boss would surely be a hidden danger in the future.
Bonez was different. Judging from his portrayal in the original work, he was quite loyal to his boss. Even after the disastrous defeat in Alabasta, after escaping from Impel Down, he was still willing to follow Crocodile around. Someone like that had no issues with loyalty.
You just had to beat him into submission.
Thinking about it this way, today's gains were really good—two Pokémon items, a potential subordinate, and some insight into the transparent world.
"Oh right, I almost forgot about those guys."
Vane looked toward the pirate ship spinning in place at the dock. Including this one, he now had three pirate ships.
Pirate ships were extremely expensive, no cheaper than their captains' bounties.
And those pirates themselves were walking piles of money.
The Black Panther Pirates originally had eighty members. With those who later joined, they numbered over a hundred.
"Hurry up, just fix the rudder enough so it can move. Get us out of here, then we'll do a full repair."
"Stop spinning, stop spinning!"
"If I'd known, we should've brought the other ship over too."
The other ship they referred to was the Blood Coral, which had fled from this island earlier.
That ship was parked on the previous island they had passed. Since Shell Town was the final destination of this trip and they were going to turn back later anyway, they hadn't brought both ships over for convenience.
"Everyone freeze. You've already been surrounded by me alone."
Vane had appeared on the railing. Behind him on the sea surface floated a chunk of ice.
He still couldn't compare to Aokiji riding a bicycle on the sea, but stepping off floating ice as a relay point was no problem.
The pirates were a bit stunned. One person surrounding everyone sounded absurd, but who among them dared to resist? Even the powerful Calder had fallen at his hands.
And so, the scene of one person surrounding everyone really appeared. Not a single pirate dared to resist.
They were all captured and even revealed that they had another ship. Damn—last time, when the Blood Coral escaped, Vane had felt it was a pity. He didn't expect them to deliver themselves to his doorstep this time.
Another big deal could be made. The princess's route hadn't been opened yet, but the underworld route was still there. Now that he had a Den Den Mushi, calling them over was something he could do at any time.
If it were just bounty heads, going through the princess's route would naturally be better. But there were so many pirates here without bounties who were just as vicious. The Marine base would lock them all up in prison without giving a single Belly in reward.
The underworld dealt in all kinds of business. These pirates could also be converted into money.
They could even help deal with pirate ships. Last time Lena came over, she wanted to take them all away, but Vane refused. This time, if nothing unexpected happened, Vane would have four pirate ships on hand. That was really too many.
...
The unconscious Bonez woke up a day later. He touched the bandages on his chest in confusion. The faint pain told him that his steel-like body had indeed been cut open once by a blade.
Ever since eating the Dice-Dice Fruit, he had crushed the confidence of several swordsmen. Gradually, he formed the belief that swordsmen were helpless before him.
Yet today, once Vane got serious, he couldn't withstand even a single strike.
"Is the sea really that vast?"
"Of course it's vast."
Vane pushed the door open and walked in, carrying two sea beast legs. After he had mostly cleared out the bullfish of the Bullfish King, some sea beasts began entering this sea area without the threat of bullfish. Lately, their main source of meat had been sea beast meat.
Vane gnawed on one himself and tossed the other toward Bonez, who was sitting by the bed.
Bonez instinctively caught it.
One hand gripped the roasted sea beast leg, while the fingers of the other hand turned into blades, slicing the meat off to eat. Despite his large and rough appearance, his table manners were far more elegant than Vane's.
"I can easily break through your defense, and there are countless people stronger than me."
"Bonez, bullying 'little kids' in the West Blue has no future. Come work for me. At the very least, as long as you're willing, I can beat you up once every day."
Bonez: "..."
Beat me up every day? What kind of benefit is that?
"Developing your Devil Fruit ability by only bullying the weak won't work. Also, the current Marine Admiral Zephyr once said that someone who relies too much on Devil Fruit abilities can't become a true powerhouse. You also need strong physical skills."
There were exceptions for Devil Fruits that were inherently powerful. And the 'powerhouses' Zephyr talked about were all Vice Admiral level and above, or at the bottom tier of Admirals. For ordinary people, reaching that level would already mean no regrets in life.
"Your physical skills are really terrible. If you want to become strong, I can teach you."
Become strong? Bonez had thought he was strong.
He was right. Bullying ordinary weaklings would only make him stagnate.
"From now on, I, Daz Bonez, will work for you."
Vane: "Very good. What exactly our team will do in the future isn't clear yet, but no matter what we do, strength is something we can't lack. Your injuries will be healed the day after tomorrow. Go get two rounds of electrotherapy first."
Electrotherapy?
Is this a team or a gang?!