Watching the small boat disappear over the distant horizon, everyone in the Charlotte Pirates let out a sigh of relief.
Kizaru ultimately completed the hostage exchange without causing any trouble. When he left the Navy's fastest warship with Dr. Vegapunk, nothing unexpected happened.
He was probably more concerned about that "helpless" doctor. An ordinary human truly could not guarantee their safety amid the aftermath of battles between monsters like them.
However, Punk Hazard would probably be abandoned soon. Since it had already been discovered by the Charlotte Pirates, it could no longer be considered an especially secret research base.
"What a pity. That was Dr. Vegapunk," Charlotte Oven said regretfully.
Katakuri shook his head. "We don't have the resources of the World Government and the Marines. Even if we forcibly kept Dr. Vegapunk, we'd only be inviting disaster."
Charlotte Oven understood that as well. He nodded helplessly. "I just think an opportunity like this is too rare..."
"Don't let greed blind you. Leaving aside the future retaliation of the World Government and the Marines, Admiral Kizaru alone isn't someone easy to deal with," Katakuri said. "Besides, it's not as though we gained nothing."
The spoils Katakuri meant were naturally the weapon blueprints in Minos's hands. Although most of those weapons were too technologically advanced for Whole Cake Island to manufacture, even the ones they could produce were enough to significantly raise the overall strength of Whole Cake Island.
Of course, most people aboard the ship could not understand them. The blueprints were currently in Baby5's hands for her to study.
Baby5 was not particularly gifted at learning. However, because of the Weapon-Weapon Fruit, she was indeed familiar with the structures of many weapons, making her barely qualified as a senior technician.
She might not have much creativity, but she could at least read the blueprints. That alone was enough for her. She did not need to understand the principles behind them; machining, manufacturing, materials, power, and everything else could all be handled by the Weapon-Weapon Fruit itself.
Minos clenched his fists. This battle had been extremely dangerous. They had nearly been buried beneath the sea, and even many of Dressrosa's palace guards had suffered serious injuries—the Marines did not care about one's original status. As long as someone was aboard a pirate ship and was not a captive, they were pirates, and the Marines showed no mercy when fighting them.
Yet for Minos, this had also been a tremendous opportunity. The Dragon Blood Ritual he had obtained in exchange for the Artificial Azure Dragon Fruit had elevated his talent to another level, and his Armament Haki had advanced by leaps and bounds.
If he had trained on his own, it would have taken at least a year for his Armament Haki to reach the standard of hardening, let alone gain a powerful body impervious to blades and bullets.
If he also counted the Hundred-Eyed Demon Mode as a trump card, Minos estimated that he was now roughly approaching the level of a major officer in a Yonko Crew—about the strength of pirates worth two or three hundred million.
With that strength, Minos was beginning to feel restless. He did not want to remain in the Charlotte Pirates for the rest of his life. Setting everything else aside, he needed to stir up trouble to truly grow stronger!
The memories and knowledge exchanged through the Golden Scales were only minor gains. Only things like the Dragon Blood Ritual and the Evil Eye could truly bring about a qualitative transformation.
That required him to collect treasures such as Devil Fruits, and also to keep stirring up storms across the seas.
And what did the Charlotte Pirates do every day?
They suppressed and absorbed pirates entering the New World, collected delicious food and chefs, engaged in low-intensity battles—or rather, sparring—with the other Yonko Crews, occasionally fought a few half-hearted battles with the Marines, and collected protection fees from their territories...
Those things could practically be called routine. Minos did not think he could earn many karma points from such daily tasks.
"After we get back, I should start thinking about my future. I can't really work myself to death for the Charlotte Pirates my whole life. Big Mom isn't my real mother, and besides, Charlotte Linlin treats even her own sons and daughters like tools..."
The World Consciousness's backlash seemed to have ended there. The Charlotte Family soon found the regular route, and over ten days later, they returned to Whole Cake Island's sphere of influence.
During his time back in Whole Cake Island, Minos did not remain idle. He roughly tapped into and explored the potential brought by the Dragon Blood Ritual. At the same time, he began training in Rokushiki.
After the Dragon Blood Ritual, Minos had not merely gained greater physical strength and defense. He had also gained extremely high resistance to heat, electricity, severe cold, and poison. Moreover, that resistance and his physical defense would continue to increase as his strength grew.
For now, he could only block rifle bullets fired by ordinary New World Marine soldiers. Against truly high-tech firearms, he could not withstand them. For example, he simply could not block the shells Baby5 fired from her legs; one shot could blast him hard enough to cough up blood.
This differed from Charlotte Linlin and Kaido's Steel Balloon and immortal body. Both of them had practically entered the stage close to max level, already possessing around sixty or seventy percent of their adult defensive power. Although their defense would grow as their strength increased later, it did not truly rise in sync with their strength.
His Rokushiki training progressed quickly as well, since his physique had long met the requirements. During this time, he also kept searching through the Golden Scales for training knowledge or memories that met his expectations, along with other high-tech weapon blueprints.
After Baby5 acquired Vegapunk's various high-tech blueprints, her Fruit ability had indeed improved significantly. At the very least, her destructive power had increased greatly.
But that massive increase in destructive power came at the cost of reduced endurance. Her limiting weakness now was probably her lack of stamina.
The Golden Scales refreshed with new trade items every day. After looking through a pile of bizarre cultivation systems that were basically useless in the Pirate World, Minos began checking what he could exchange for with Vegapunk's technological blueprints.
"Hmm? Bat Fighter blueprints?" Minos suddenly said in surprise. "Right! Aircraft count as weapons too!"
In an instant, it was as though a new world had opened before Minos. "Baby5 can turn into rockets and missiles, so why can't she turn into an aircraft? Even becoming an Iron Man suit or something like a Gundam in the future would be perfectly normal! Who could say those things aren't weapons?"
Before you continue