Mera Mera no Mi

"Wasn't this premise a little outdated? And the protagonist wasn't even a transmigrator; it was even set before the main plot..." As a professional editor, Laolai made an accurate judgment after reading the manuscript. "I don't think it'll perform very well. Why not revise it and make the protagonist a transmigrator? Even if the transmigration elements never appear again later, at least it would have a hook, like Xiao Yan."

"Move the timeline forward a little too. Three or four years before Luffy would be fine, but yours is thirty or forty years earlier. That's a bit..."

"It's fine, Editor. I'm not writing novels to make money. I just want to write what I like!" Zhou Qi said, sending over a screenshot. "Do you know why I haven't written anything for the past two months? Because I won the lottery..."

Laolai looked at the long string of digits in the balance, counted them twice, then silently spat out one word: "Fuck!"

But on second thought, even with that much money, he was still willing to come back and write. That was truly rare.

What was that called? Staying true to one's original aspiration!

Weren't there countless people who made enough money, then switched careers to become streamers, stopped writing, became capitalists, or opened studios?

A billionaire still willing to come back and write—wasn't that more moving than a billionaire playing soccer for everyone to watch?

After all, playing soccer could still make money and pick up girls. That was at least a positive return.

"Fine, as long as you're happy!" Since that was the case, Laolai stopped trying to persuade him, though he still made a mental note of this author.

He might not become a literary god, but he might become the kind of rich sugar daddy even literary gods had to worship. A book written by such a sugar daddy might not be worth a major recommendation, but giving it a few extra minor slots would definitely be no problem.

Another night of meditation passed.

The next day, inside the meditation room.

"After trying it, I found that Slaying the Sleep Demon cannot be done. Once the prescribed meditation period is exceeded, the mind becomes complicated, and distracting thoughts become impossible to control. Forcing oneself to meditate not only yields nothing, it even weakens the spirit. It does more harm than good!" Koshiro, who usually wore a calm expression with narrowed eyes, seemed unusually drained today. His gaze trembled slightly as well. Clearly, the aftereffects of forced meditation were still lingering.

"Is it that serious?" Zhou Qi asked with concern.

"Yes, yes!" Koshiro nodded. "The deeper one's meditation, the more severe this backlash becomes!"

"Could it be that your Kung Fu is simply too profound, leaving no room for further progress, which is why you can't meditate through the night? Why don't we try finding a disciple?" Zhou Qi asked again.

A controlled experiment had to be thorough.

The differences between Zhou Qi and Koshiro were, first, their place of origin, and second, their level of cultivation.

The control experiment formed by Zhou Qi and Koshiro could only test the issue of their origins. Whether cultivation level was also a factor remained open to debate.

"This..." Koshiro shook his head. "How could meditation ever reach a point where there is no further progress? Still, that may indeed be one of the reasons. It is worth trying. I'll make arrangements immediately!"

Zhou Qi nodded. After thinking for a moment, he realized he had an even better test subject.

But that person should be practicing swordsmanship right now!

So he first completed his daily training, then opened a Space Gate directly to Smoker's office.

It was completely empty...

"Huh?" Zhou Qi was taken aback. He stepped inside, opened the door, and asked the Marine standing guard, "Where is your colonel?"

"Uh, Lord Zhou Qi!" The Marine recognized Zhou Qi. Perhaps Smoker had mentioned him before.

"It's like this: yesterday, the colonel took Tashigi out to sea. They haven't returned yet!"

"Is that so?" Zhou Qi nodded. "I understand!"

He closed the door and opened another Space Gate. On the other side, Tashigi was fighting with a sword in hand.

However, he had opened it from an overhead angle more than ten meters above Tashigi, to prevent them from being injured by a suddenly appearing Space Gate in the middle of battle.

One could never be too careful. Sure enough, they really were fighting.

It was a boarding battle. On one side were the Marines, numbering only a little over fifty. On the other was a massive pirate crew of nearly two hundred people. Their ship was even larger than the warship, and its flag bore a skull topped with a tuft of red Mohawk hair.

"The Red-Haired Pirates?" Zhou Qi asked in shock.

Looking at the battle again, the Marines were actually fighting at a disadvantage. The pirates had greater numbers and stronger fighting spirit, but more importantly, Smoker was deadlocked with the pirate sporting the red Mohawk!

Smoker raised his hand and released a cloud of white smoke. The redhead answered with a punch, but his fist blazed with roaring flames, directly dispersing the white smoke!

Flames could disperse smoke, but smoke had no answer to flames. He was completely countered. If Smoker had not been so experienced while the redhead was a rookie, Smoker might even have been defeated!

"The Mera Mera no Mi?" Zhou Qi was stunned. This redhead was obviously not Red-Haired Shanks, yet the ability he used was Ace's signature power: Fire Fist!

"Ace won't set sail for another year. Perhaps this man was the previous owner of the Mera Mera no Mi. He died in the East Blue, so the Mera Mera no Mi was reborn in the East Blue!" Zhou Qi's eyes shone as he watched. A Logia Type Devil Fruit was right before his eyes!

How could he not find a way to obtain it?

Although his target was the Thunder-Thunder Fruit, a bird in the hand was worth ten in the woods.

As for what Ace would do in the future, what did that have to do with him?

Ace had only possessed it for three years anyway.

And without the Mera Mera no Mi, Ace might be able to go even further with Haki. After all, his father had no Devil Fruit either, yet still became the Pirate King.

By that logic, Ace ought to thank him!

"Smoker can't take him down. He'll probably have to kill him!" Zhou Qi watched the battle. Smoker clearly wanted to capture the redhead alive, but unfortunately, the Devil Fruit counter was too obvious. Besides, no one knew where Smoker's jitte was.

Clearly, capturing him alive was unrealistic.

But if Smoker killed him, Zhou Qi would not get the Devil Fruit. After all, he had made no preparations and did not even have any fruit nearby.

Reaching into his pocket, Zhou Qi pulled out a loudspeaker and shouted, "Smoker, hold on a little longer!"

"Hm?" Smoker did not look up. He knew it was Zhou Qi just from the voice. The redhead, on the other hand, was startled and hurriedly looked up, but Zhou Qi had already withdrawn. Instead, the redhead's lapse in concentration earned him a kick from Smoker.

"Boss, how much is a shipping container?" Zhou Qi took out his phone, opened Alibaba, and searched for local shipping containers in Nanhai City.

"What size do you need?"

"Three by three by three. It needs to be waterproof!"

"We don't have that specification. We'd need to make a mold and manufacture it separately. If you need it waterproof, we can install a waterproof membrane for you."

"How long would that take?"

"How many do you need?"

"One unit!"

"Uh, fifteen days!"

"Why so long?"

"Our production capacity is limited, and everything is scheduled according to orders. If you need a standard container, we can provide one directly, but the size you need is not one we have. We would need to make a mold and customize it..."

"What sizes do you have?"

"The closest one to your requirements is three by three by 2.8..."

Fuck me, didn't they have one already? It was only twenty centimeters shorter.

"I'll take that one. How much extra for a waterproof cover?"

"Uh, the bare container is 5,000, and the waterproof cover is 800, for a total of 5,800."

"Do you deliver?" Zhou Qi asked.

"Delivery is free within Nanhai City. There's an additional delivery fee elsewhere in Dongguang Province."

"If you deliver it to this location, how soon can it arrive?" Zhou Qi sent over an address. It was the warehouse he had asked Zhou Mingde to rent.

"It's 250 kilometers away. We can deliver it by four this afternoon!"

"Okay. Where do I place the order? Get it delivered right away!"

Then he contacted Zhou Mingde.

"General Manager Zhou, how did the warehouse price negotiations go?"

"I was just about to tell you. An annual lease is 488,800, for good luck!" Zhou Mingde replied.

"Okay, I'll transfer it to you. The rest is your commission!" Zhou Qi immediately replied.

"Thank you, Brother Qi. Your math is really good!" Zhou Mingde hurriedly replied. He had calculated that number many times, yet Zhou Qi had worked it out the instant he received the price.

Even though it was only simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

"Hm?" Zhou Qi froze. His math was good?

After ending the call, Zhou Qi quietly thought for a moment.

(-)/5+.

In an instant, he got the answer: exactly.

Wait, was his math really this good?

Zhou Qi could confirm that he had absolutely never possessed this sort of mental calculation speed before. Otherwise, he would not have only gotten into an ordinary university.

There had been students in his high school class who got into top universities in Beijing, but even they did not have this kind of calculating ability!

"Has my brain evolved?"