Mera Mera no Mi

"Isn't this theme a bit old? And the protagonist isn't even a transmigrator, he's even before the main plot..." As a professional editor, Laolai made an accurate judgment after reading the manuscript: "I don't think the results will be very good. Why don't you change it, make the protagonist a transmigrator, even if he doesn't appear again later, at least there's a gimmick, just like Xiao Yan."

"Move the timeline back a bit, three or four years before Luffy is fine, but you're thirty or forty years early, that's a bit..."

"It's okay, editor, I don't write novels to make money, I just want to write what I like!" Zhou Qi said, pasting a screenshot: "Do you know why I haven't been writing for the past two months? Because I won the lottery..."

Laolai looked at the long string of numbers in the screenshot, counted it twice, and then silently uttered a word: "Damn!"

But then he thought about it, it's truly rare for someone with so much wealth to be willing to come back and write.

What do you call this? Staying true to one's original intention!

Aren't there countless people who have made enough money and then switched to being streamers, stopped writing, became capitalists, or opened studios!

An billionaire is willing to come back and write, isn't that more touching than a billionaire playing soccer for you to watch?

After all, playing soccer can still earn money and attract girls, so it's still a positive return.

"Alright, as long as you're happy!" Since that's the case, Laolai stopped persuading him, but he still made a note of this author in his heart.

He might not become a great author, but he might become a wealthy patron that even great authors would revere. Books written by such patrons, although not highly recommended, would certainly be fine with more minor recommendations.

Another night of meditation.

The next day, in the quiet room.

"After trying, I found that slaying the sleep demon is impossible. Exceeding the designated meditation period will complicate the mind, making thoughts chaotic and uncontrollable. Forcing meditation not only yields no gains but also weakens the spirit, which is harmful and unbeneficial!" Koshiro, who usually had half-closed eyes and a calm expression, was unusually weak today, his eyes trembling slightly, clearly suffering from the aftereffects of forced meditation.

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

"Yes, yes!" Koshiro nodded: "The deeper the meditation, the more severe this backlash becomes!"

"Then is it possible that your kung fu is too deep, and you can't advance further, which is why you can't meditate all night? Shall we try to find a disciple?" Zhou Qi asked again.

Comparative experiments must be thorough.

The difference between Zhou Qi and Koshiro is their origin and their realm.

The comparative experiment formed by him and Koshiro can only test the issue of origin, but whether it is an issue of realm is still debatable.

"This..." Koshiro shook his head: "How can there be a saying that meditation cannot advance further? However, this might be one of the reasons. We can try it. I'll arrange it now!"

Zhou Qi nodded, then thought, he had an even better experimental subject.

However, that subject should be practicing sword fighting right now!

So he first completed his daily homework, then opened a space gate directly to Smoker's office.

It was empty inside...

"Huh?" Zhou Qi was surprised, he stepped inside, then opened the door and asked the standing Marine soldier: "Where is your captain?"

"Uh, Lord Zhou Qi!" The Marine recognized Zhou Qi, or perhaps Smoker had greeted him.

"It's like this, yesterday the captain took Tashigi out to sea and hasn't returned yet!"

"Is that so!" Zhou Qi nodded: "I understand!"

He closed the door, opened another space gate, and on the other side was Tashigi, wielding a sword in combat.

However, he opened it from a bird's-eye view, more than ten meters above Tashigi, to prevent them from being injured by the sudden appearance of the space gate during their fight.

Caution is always wise. As expected, they were indeed fighting.

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

"Red-Haired Pirates?" Zhou Qi exclaimed in surprise.

Looking at the battle, the Marines were not doing well. The pirates had a larger number, were more eager to fight, and more importantly, Smoker was locked in a stalemate with the pirate sporting the red mohawk!

Smoker raised his hand and unleashed a cloud of white smoke, but the red-haired pirate also threw a punch, which carried raging flames and directly dispersed the white smoke!

Flames could disperse white smoke, but white smoke couldn't do anything to flames. It was completely countered. If not for Smoker's rich combat experience and the red-haired pirate being a novice, he might have been defeated!

"Mera Mera no Mi?" Zhou Qi was shocked. This red-haired pirate was clearly not Shanks, but he was using Ace's signature ability, Fire Fist!

"Ace won't set sail for another year. Perhaps this is 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 lit up. A Logia-type Devil Fruit, right before his eyes!

Why wouldn't he find a way to obtain it?

Although his target was the Goro Goro no Mi, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

As for what would happen to Ace later, what did that have to do with him?

Ace only possessed it for three years anyway.

And without the Mera Mera no Mi, Ace might even go further with his Haki. After all, his father didn't have a Devil Fruit and still became the Pirate King.

In that case, Ace should thank him!

"Smoker can't take him down, he can probably only kill him!" Zhou Qi watched the battle. Smoker clearly intended to capture the red-haired pirate alive, but unfortunately, the Devil Fruit counter was too obvious, and Smoker's Jitte was nowhere to be seen.

Clearly, capturing him alive was not realistic.

But if he were killed by Smoker, Zhou Qi wouldn't be able to get the Devil Fruit, as he wasn't prepared at all and had no fruit with him.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a megaphone. Zhou Qi shouted: "Smoker, hold on for a moment!"

"Hmm?" Smoker didn't look up. After all, he knew it was Zhou Qi by his voice. The red-haired pirate, however, was startled and quickly looked up, but Zhou Qi had already withdrawn. Instead, his attention wavered, and he was kicked by Smoker.

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

"How big do you need?"

"3x3x3, and it needs to be waterproof!"

"We don't have that specification. We'd need to create a mold and build it from scratch. For waterproofing, we can install a waterproof membrane for you."

"How long will that take?"

"How many do you need?"

"One!"

"Uh, 15 days!"

"Why does it take so long?"

"Our production capacity is limited, and we schedule orders based on demand. If you need a ready-made container, we can provide one directly. However, the specification you need isn't something we have in stock, so we'd have to create a mold for customization..."

"What sizes do you have?"

"We have something close to what you need, like 3x3x2.8..."

Damn it, you do have it, it's just 20 centimeters shorter.

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

"Uh, the bare container is 5,000. The waterproof cover is 800. That's 5,800 in total."

"Do you deliver?" Zhou Qi asked.

"It's free within Nanhai City. For anywhere within Dongguang Province, there will be an additional shipping fee."

"How long will it take to get to this location?" Zhou Qi sent an address, which was the warehouse he had Zhou Mingde rent.

"It's 250 kilometers away. We can deliver it this afternoon by 4 PM!"

"OK, where do I place the order? Get it to me quickly!"

Then he contacted Zhou Mingde.

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

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

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

"Thanks, Brother Qi! Your math is really good!" Zhou Mingde quickly replied. He had already calculated this number many times, and he didn't expect Zhou Qi to figure it out instantly after just getting the price.

Even though it was just simple addition and subtraction.

"Huh?" Zhou Qi was stunned. Me, good at math?

After ending the call, Zhou Qi pondered in silence.

(-)/5+.

In an instant, he got the answer. It was exactly.

Wait, is my math really that good?

Zhou Qi could confirm that he definitely didn't have this mental calculation speed before, otherwise, he wouldn't have only gotten into an ordinary university.

His high school classmates who got into top universities in Beijing didn't have this kind of calculation ability either!

"Has my brain evolved?"