Fortune Rises

From the moment the Sparletta Family was wiped out, Hogg United officially took over Decker Street.

Over three days, under the accountant's direction, they had largely taken over the Sparletta Family's assets and recruited a new batch of members.

Hogg United's numbers successfully rose to fifty, and the territory under its control more than doubled.

"Not bad. Expanding the forces under my command really can increase my fortune."

In the most luxurious mansion on Decker Street, Shimizu sat on the sofa. He appeared to be meditating with his eyes closed, but his attention was actually focused on the System Panel.

When he entered the DC World, the System Panel's progress bar had been at 17.3 percent. It later slowly rose to 17.9 percent over time.

After taking control of the Cole Gang, the figure surged to 19.8 percent within two days.

It did not seem like much, but Hogg Street, which the Cole Gang controlled, was merely one of the most ordinary streets in Gotham's slums.

There were countless streets like that in Gotham.

After wiping out the Sparletta Family, it rose to 20.8 percent.

"I still need to advance gradually. I can't move too fast and draw Batman and the others' attention."

Shimizu was not afraid of Batman, but he did not want to arrange a fight with him.

Even if Batman could not deal with him, Batman could easily cause him trouble, which would affect his expansion.

Besides, Hogg United needed time to digest the Sparletta Family's assets, and the overall quality of these people did not meet Shimizu's standards.

"In that case, I should focus on learning for now. I also need to train those thugs under me. They don't need to compare with regular soldiers, but they should at least look like the elite members of a major gang."

Shimizu had never trained a unit before, but he could simplify and teach some of the techniques from the Ninja Academy that did not require Chakra.

He could also combine them with this world's regular military training methods. He could ask Aman about that, or, failing that, hire some retired officers to teach them.

As for whether his subordinates would be dissatisfied, Shimizu believed they would be.

The authority he had established through Black Gold was more than enough. Then, he could reward members who performed well with bonuses. Carrots and sticks would be sufficient.

Of the more than seven hundred thousand dollars left behind by the Sparletta Family, after paying Penguin his share and distributing over a hundred thousand as bonuses to his subordinates, more than five hundred thousand remained. Combined with the protection fees and cuts from businesses on the two streets, it was enough to sustain the gang's training and normal operations. The surplus could be saved to purchase materials for upgrading Black Gold in the future.

With that in mind, Shimizu picked up the mechanical engineering work written by Silas Stone from the table.

"Wind Release: Raging Air Dance!"

Streams of air swirled across the puppet base's training ground, kicking up sand and dust from the ground.

Shimizu had already mastered the Gale Dance technique.

"Very good. Next comes the experiment. Use the principles of Gale Dance to accelerate the airflow into the pneumatic device, then use the principles of Gale Palm to pressurize it."

Shimizu controlled the Fatty Puppet with both hands, operating it carefully.

He could not form Hand Seals now, so he could not accelerate gas compression by directly using the method of casting ninjutsu with his real body.

But he did not need to fully cast the techniques. He only needed to channel his Wind Attribute Chakra through the Chakra Thread and roughly reproduce part of the effects of the two techniques within a small area.

As long as the pneumatic device's charging speed and power could improve even a little, it would be a success.

The airflow rushed into the air pump, then rapidly compressed under the effects of the piston and Wind Release Chakra. Finally, the air valve opened.

Under the high pressure, internal energy rapidly converted into mechanical energy, causing the Fatty Puppet's fist to shoot out in an instant and slam into a massive boulder.

Broken stone scattered and dust billowed, making Sasori pause his work in the room next door and glance out the window.

"This guy's puppet monstrous-strength technique has gotten stronger again."

Sasori watched Shimizu for a while before turning back to continue modifying Black Ant and Ibuse.

"The gas accumulation time has dropped from 10.3 seconds with a single pneumatic pump to 7.4 seconds. The increase in power is unclear, but it should be considerable. Next time, I can have my avatar learn how to make a barometer and install one inside. Then I can plug the changes in air-pressure data into a formula for calculation."

Shimizu walked over to the Fatty Puppet, removed its arm, and inspected it carefully.

"The cylinder has undergone slight deformation. Next time, I need to use better materials for the cylinder. I also need to redesign its structure, separating it with tiered multiple air valves to alter the pressure distribution, focusing on reinforcing the high-pressure chamber, and allowing precise tiered control over the force of each punch..."

As he inspected it, Shimizu modified the blueprint directly on the System Panel.

After the modifications were complete, the Fatty Puppet's rating did not rise.

That was because this only slightly enhanced the puppet's durability and control. The increase to its upper limit did not lie with the puppet itself, but with Shimizu, the one controlling it.

"I should have enough money for the materials. There was some left over from before, and I received a share of the reward from the last S-rank mission. While I'm at it, I can modify Little Boy too."

The Next Day.

The last day of vacation.

Through the Puppet Force's internal channels, Shimizu easily purchased the materials he needed from the warehouse and began upgrading Fatty and Little Boy.

The modifications to Fatty proceeded steadily, while Little Boy's modifications were even simpler.

This puppet's design philosophy was already extreme. Aside from the necessary attack methods, all its enhancements had gone into speed.

That made deep modifications difficult, because Little Boy's main body was made entirely from extremely lightweight materials, resulting in insufficient structural strength.

To modify it, he either had to overhaul it inside and out, which was practically the same as building an entirely new puppet, or make minor adjustments around the edges. Further improvement was very difficult.

However, Shimizu had found an idea.

Springs.

This was a component used in many industrial machines and in some puppets, where it served various mechanisms.

Shimizu intended to install springs in Little Boy's feet and leg joints. When controlling the puppet, he would use the Chakra Thread to pull it through its movements, storing energy in the springs.

Little Boy was light enough that he did not need to worry about the springs deforming under prolonged pressure and failing to return to their original shape.

The only requirement was that the chosen metal had to possess both strength and toughness.

Fortunately, although Sand Hidden Village was poor, the Land of Wind was rich in mineral resources. With the Third Kazekage acting as a human mineral-vein detector, the Puppet Force had abundant stocks of metals that met those requirements.