On the pitch-black sea, Baccarat had already withdrawn the concealment of her Vision-Vision Fruit ability.
Just moments ago, the Thunder Fortress had escaped Whisky Peak at maximum speed. In full-power mode, the Thunder Fortress was five to six times faster than ordinary ships, and four times faster than warships.
Once they left port, there was absolutely no chance those warships could catch up.
"Don't worry, meow. Vane's that same cockroach who just won't die, just like me. He'll definitely escape from those Marines."
Seeing Baccarat staring toward Whisky Peak with a worried expression, Meowth came over to comfort her.
"Vane-sama has never looked that panicked before… just what kind of terrifying enemy did he run into?"
Even after eating a Devil Fruit, Baccarat—though no longer relying on Vane for her standing within the crew—still ranked above ordinary foot soldiers. But compared to officers like Martha and Lena, she still had to rely on Vane.
So regardless of the reason, she didn't want anything to happen to him.
"Who knows… Hey, isn't that Vane?"
No matter how fast the ship was, it couldn't possibly be faster than Vane flying. After all, this wasn't a speedboat—it was a large vessel.
After flying high into the sky and following the Thunder Fortress's direction for a while, Vane soon spotted the ship's position.
At the same time, he also discovered a flaw in his flying ability— the higher he flew, the greater the energy consumption.
He had originally thought that with the power of flight, he might have a chance to fly directly up to a Sky Island to search for treasure. But after testing the altitude, he realized that for now, it simply wasn't feasible.
At present, the highest he could reach was about one thousand meters. And even at that height, the consumption was already considerable—he couldn't maintain it for long.
To fly up to ten thousand meters, he would have to continue training, strengthening himself enough to reach seven thousand meters in a single push. At that altitude, he could access the White Sea.
Charizard could also fly, but Vane seriously doubted its flight ceiling. Just having the Flying attribute didn't mean it could soar ten thousand meters into the sky.
As for letting the Thunder Fortress ride the Knock-Up Stream to reach a Sky Island… Vane had zero confidence in that method.
First of all, not every Knock-Up Stream shot into the sky. And even if it did, you'd need to ensure a Sky Island was directly overhead when you rode it.
The fact that Sky Islands were treated as mere legends among civilians—even in Mock Town directly beneath the Knock-Up Stream, people considered them fairy tales and jokes—spoke volumes about the abysmally low success rate of reaching a Sky Island that way.
When Blackbeard chased Luffy and saw his ship ride the Knock-Up Stream up to a Sky Island, he immediately gave up the pursuit. For someone as cautious as Blackbeard, when risk outweighed reward, abandoning the chase was the obvious choice.
Vane wasn't willing to gamble on a Knock-Up Stream either. Since there was a more reliable method to reach the sky, waiting a few extra years was no big deal.
The only thing on a Sky Island that truly interested him was the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, hailed as the most perfect Logia Devil Fruit.
When Enel destroyed his homeland, Birka, it was around the year 1514.
Given that the Rumble-Rumble Fruit granted overwhelming combat power the moment it was eaten—making its user invincible in the Sky Islands—it was clear that Enel hadn't hidden away for years before destroying Birka.
With his personality, once he realized the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he wouldn't have been able to hold back for even a few days.
It was currently the year 1505. There were still about nine years left. No need to rush the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
...
Thunder Fortress.
"So it was actually an Admiral who personally came to capture us."
"Captain! Just how strong is an Admiral?"
The moment Vane returned to the Thunder Fortress, he was surrounded by the crew, bombarded with questions. After learning that an Admiral had personally shown up, every face was filled with shock and curiosity.
"How strong is an Admiral… Bonez, someone at your level facing an Admiral would be like an old man holding wooden sticks standing against you."
Bonez was the strongest humanoid on the ship aside from Vane.
Not to mention an old man attacking him with wooden sticks—even if a young man in his prime slashed between his legs with a blade, his eyelids wouldn't so much as twitch.
"An Admiral… truly powerful."
Bonez's expression darkened. He hadn't expected the gap between himself and an Admiral to be this enormous.
"If you don't come to the Grand Line, you'll never understand just what the true powerhouses of this world are like… You grunts! From now on, I'm going to train you mercilessly. You all need to become much stronger!"
With his own strength having advanced further, he previously estimated his combat ability to be worth around 200 million Belly.
Now that he had awakened his Blood Demon Art—in the Marines' eyes, equivalent to having eaten a Devil Fruit—his strength would likely be valued at around 400 million Belly. Practically doubled.
With such a massive leap in his own power, the gap between him and the crew had widened too much. They needed serious training.
Vane felt that this surge in strength wasn't his limit yet. He could still combine Haki with his Blood Demon Art. While training his subordinates, he could push himself even further.
"Come on. Let's see if there's an island along our route that's suitable for training."
Among the islands in the Grand Line suitable for training, the closest one Vane knew was Little Garden—an ancient island perfect for ordinary foot soldiers to undergo trials.
As for himself, in the first half of the Grand Line, the most suitable island he could think of was the beast island where Rayleigh trained Luffy. The beasts there were strong enough. Aside from the two giants fighting and the island-eating goldfish, Little Garden didn't impress him much.
Just dinosaurs, after all.
Unfortunately, whether he looked down on Little Garden or not didn't matter. There was no guarantee he could even get there.
Little Garden's route was already remote. Most people simply couldn't find the way.
They could only take it one step at a time.
...
A few days later, the latest batch of Marine wanted posters was scattered across the Four Seas and the Grand Line.
In the East Blue, a red-haired pirate wearing a straw hat—
"Come take a look! Isn't this Vane and his crew? They've finally all been wanted, hahaha!"
"A pirate who can fight our captain was never going to stay ordinary. Knew this day would come!"
It was a collective bounty—several members of the entire pirate crew had been issued rewards.
[Rocket Team Pirates]
[Captain Nation-Slayer Vane — Bounty: 240,000,000 Belly]
The very first poster featured Vane himself. It showed him in the form after awakening his Blood Demon Art—the appearance the public would interpret as a Devil Fruit ability user.
His bounty had tripled. Quite similar to Luffy's first two bounty increases—both tripled as well.
[Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Netherworld Demon Form]
Below was a brief description of Vane's abilities, including his power to create ice crystals and other techniques.
Even Red-Haired Shanks hadn't expected this.
"So he's a Devil Fruit user… Is this a newly acquired ability?"
The last time he saw Vane fight, there had been no sign of any Devil Fruit powers.
"Doesn't matter…! Our friend Vane now has a high bounty—so let's throw a pirate banquet!"