Golden Lion glanced at Minos with some relief. Thankfully, he had met Minos early enough. He had not actually gone through with that grand plan that was no different from a fool's scheme. Otherwise, his lifelong reputation would have been completely ruined.
Relying on a bunch of so-called beasts to destroy the East Blue? Wouldn't Sengoku, Garp, Charlotte Linlin, Whitebeard, and the rest laugh themselves to death? Even directly smashing islands down on them would have been more reliable than that plan.
Just as Golden Lion regained his youth, Minos discovered that his Karma Points had finally exceeded the exchange requirement by a considerable margin.
Thinking about it carefully, that was perfectly normal. After all, a Great Pirate like Golden Lion had fully recovered and appeared capable of fighting for another thirty or fifty years, with the potential to grow even stronger. That would have an enormous impact on the world.
It could be said that if Golden Lion did not currently lack powerful subordinates, he would already have a new Yonko Crew. In terms of one-on-one combat, the current Golden Lion could even contend for the title of the world's strongest.
In the original story, Golden Lion had accomplished practically nothing after escaping Impel Down before Luffy beat him into submission. But the current Golden Lion clearly would not remain anonymous any longer.
Once Golden Lion accomplished even greater things in the future, he would likely bring in even more Karma Points. This was only the beginning.
Although he had already accumulated enough Karma Points and the world's backlash was bound to come, Minos was still safe for the time being.
Perhaps it was because he was currently on Golden Lion's Floating Island. The World Consciousness probably needed to find a suitable opening. It could not possibly just spawn a Sengoku or Garp on Golden Lion's Sky Island, could it?
A few days later, Judge finally succeeded in developing an IQ Potion for human use. This thing could make ordinary humans grow five or six meters tall, become far more ferocious, and greatly increase their combat strength. Fortunately, it did not have much effect on intelligence, though it did make them extremely emotional.
However, for someone at Minos's level, it was no longer particularly useful. It could only produce some mid-tier combatants, roughly equivalent to ordinary pirates with bounties of several tens of millions of Berries, and it would also affect their future potential.
Even so, it was enough to be called a miracle drug. Ordinary humans were not like the protagonists in manga, who could casually train a little and see their strength skyrocket.
In truth, although the limits of human beings in the Pirate World far exceeded those of Minos's previous life, the vast majority could train themselves to death and still only reach a limited level. Not to mention Haki, even those who mastered Rokushiki were few and far between.
They were roughly equivalent to pirates worth a few million Berries or low-ranking Marine officers. A dozen well-trained Marines armed with modern firearms could generally gun down someone at that level in a chaotic barrage.
That was precisely why even Artificial Devil Fruits, with only a one-in-ten success rate and the potential to cause bodily deformities, were still in such high demand within the Beasts Pirates.
If diligent training alone could allow someone to master Rokushiki and Haki, the pirates of the Beasts Pirates would have to be insane to eat Artificial Devil Fruits with such severe side effects.
"Is this the newly completed potion? You've already conducted human trials, right?" Golden Lion asked as he looked at the potion.
"That's right. With this potion, our Golden Lion Pirates will surely rule the entire sea and become kings of the ocean!" Judge said excitedly, his face filled with longing.
However, Golden Lion, who had always been quite interested in this before, remained rather calm. "It's still too early. This can only make up for the lack of mid-tier combat strength. It won't be of much use in truly top-level battles."
To be fair, raising tens of thousands of feral soldiers could indeed force even the Four Emperors to retreat. The Four Emperors did not possess Immortal Bodies or infinite stamina. If they fought for days and nights, even if they won, they would be left battered and exhausted.
As for Conqueror's Haki, it consumed stamina as well. The wider its range and the stronger its intimidation, the more stamina it consumed. Against ordinary fodder, that was one thing, but against opponents at this level, using Conqueror's Haki to knock them unconscious would consume nearly as much energy as directly killing them.
However, Great Pirates or Marine Admirals at that level would be helplessly beyond the reach of these feral soldiers as long as they did not charge in head-on. They could slowly wage guerrilla warfare; even if there were millions of soldiers, they could pick them off piece by piece until none remained.
Thus, in the Pirate World, troop numbers were always merely supplementary. What truly mattered was the combat strength of the strongest individual.
Golden Lion, in his former brain-damaged state, could not think through these issues. Now that he had returned to normal, he naturally would no longer blindly pursue troop numbers.
Although troop numbers were still important, they were no longer the most important thing.
Of course, for the Golden Lion Pirates, who currently had nothing and only a handful of people, this potion could instantly fill such a massive gap in their mid-tier fighting force. It could even make their mid-tier combat strength far surpass that of other Pirate Crews. For Golden Lion, it was certainly something worth celebrating.
"With this, we only need to recruit a few more figures at the level of top officers, and the Flying Pirates can more or less return to their former glory... We can also train Minos. Give this kid another ten years, and he'll become a Yonko Commander-level powerhouse."
Golden Lion was deep in thought when Dr. Indigo came walking over, his shoes making squelching sounds with every step.
The moment he heard that sound, Golden Lion felt phantom pains shooting through his head. Back when he had been brain-damaged, he had sometimes found the sound rather amusing. Now, it only irritated him.
However, Dr. Indigo was one of Golden Lion's most trusted confidants. He could not possibly beat Dr. Indigo up over such a trivial matter, so he could only endure it.
"Captain, I think we should consider another issue first." Dr. Indigo walked over with a list in hand. "We've run out of the raw materials needed to make the potion. Perhaps we should go down and purchase some."
The potion and the IQ Plant were ultimately not the same thing. Besides using the IQ Plant as the primary ingredient, the potion required the addition of quite a few other raw materials.
Golden Lion naturally had some manufacturing facilities on his islands. He had deliberately found quite a few islands that produced raw materials in the past. If they were making potions for animals, they could barely remain self-sufficient.
But potions intended for humans required certain new materials, and Golden Lion had not paid attention to where those materials were produced when he had moved islands in the past.
Hearing this, Golden Lion nodded. "All right, give me the list. When I have time, I'll look for the islands where these raw materials can be found."
Just as Golden Lion finished speaking, Minos's danger sense began to sound the alarm.
Before you continue