Invitation

Wang Gao stood atop the Mist Sea Tree, surrounded by swirling fog. From time to time, high-temperature Water Vapor burst from the dense exhaust vents.

The area of the Mist Sea Tree exposed above the sea covered roughly sixty square kilometers. It looked like a towering mountain, while its crown alone was estimated to span around eight square kilometers.

As the Mist Sea Tree came under control, the Devil's Triangle returned to its former state.

"This place is quite suitable for establishing a secret base."

Lucifer appeared behind him and respectfully reported, "Father God, this is the inventory of the seized items."

Wang Gao accepted the list. Seeing that it included Brook, a Revive-Revive Fruit user, did not surprise him much.

The Shadow Mecha was extremely effective against ordinary Devil Fruit users. Its ability to alter the Shadow World and thereby cause sudden changes in reality did not appear, on the surface, to be the power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit at all. It was practically impossible to guard against.

"Let's go take a look."

"Yes." Lucifer opened a Shadow Tunnel, enveloped Wang Gao, and used Instant Transmission to transport them into a hollow within the Mist Sea Tree.

The place glittered with gold. Vast quantities of Gold, Silver, and Jewels were piled into mountains. Lucifer had gathered the collections accumulated by the three trees over several centuries here.

He had little interest in Gold, Silver, and Jewels, Antiques, jade artifacts, and the like. To the Human Reform League, which possessed advanced submarine technology, such things were insignificant.

Although the mountains of gold before him weighed several hundred tons, they were not enough to move Wang Gao.

Among the Mist Sea Tree's collection, the most valuable items were Devil Fruits, various books, unusual objects, famous blades, and the like.

There were eleven Devil Fruits in total: seven Zoans, three Paramecias, and one Logia. Picking up the Logia, he examined it with Observation Haki and immediately learned what power it contained.

A Logia—the Crystal-Crystal Fruit. It might be a superior fruit to the Stone-Stone Fruit, Sand-Sand Fruit, Sugar-Sugar Fruit, Glitter-Glitter Fruit, and similar abilities.

Wang Gao praised, "Very powerful, and with tremendous potential. It is highly suitable as Mammon's Devil Mecha."

Of the seven Zoan Devil Fruits, aside from one Ancient Zoan, the rest were relatively ordinary types.

As for the three Paramecias, Wang Gao inspected them. They were the Balloon-Balloon Fruit, Box-Box Fruit, and Image-Image Fruit, all relatively good Paramecias.

After examining the Devil Fruits, he turned his gaze toward a large stone. More accurately, it was a massive dark-gray stone block, its surface carved with countless cuneiform characters.

"A Poneglyph..."

That was right. The stone block before him was one of the twenty-six ordinary Poneglyphs.

Wang Gao touched the Poneglyph and revealed a thoughtful expression.

In truth, he did not care about what was written on it. He was far more interested in the material of these Stones. After observing it with Observation Haki, the secret of the Poneglyph's composition was revealed.

It was a material of the same type as the Seastone Factor. However, the Seastone Factor consisted of pure neutron particles made up of twenty-three neutrons, while the Poneglyph's primary component consisted of pure neutron particles made up of twenty-eight neutrons.

Wang Gao named it "N Silicon," meaning neutron silicon. The Human Reform League's official name for the Seastone Factor was likewise "N Sodium," meaning neutron sodium.

The traits of N Silicon were hardness and shape memory. Items forged from this material were not merely incredibly hard; they also possessed properties similar to memory alloys.

That was why Poneglyphs were so difficult to destroy.

After all, the World Government was not stupid. They would certainly have tried to destroy the Poneglyphs, yet the Poneglyphs had existed for over eight hundred years since their creation.

If not for those two properties, they would likely have been destroyed long ago.

Wang Gao was actually very curious about N Silicon and N Sodium. These substances were unlike ordinary matter; they could not be compressed into existence even at the center of a planetary core.

Pure neutron particles either existed as single neutrons or could only appear within celestial bodies such as neutron stars.

N Silicon and N Sodium were very likely artificial products.

For the time being, Wang Gao had no clue how to synthesize these two substances. He could only slowly consider the relevant technology in the future.

He had Lucifer store the Poneglyph in the Shadow World, then had Brook released.

Having just escaped the Wooden Coffin and the seawater that had soaked him, Brook was still shaken. However, he quickly noticed the two people before him.

"Revive-Revive Fruit user, state your identity. Do not attempt to escape. This is my domain," Lucifer asked coldly.

Seeing the completely sealed space around him, along with the utter confidence of the two men facing him, Brook abandoned any thought of resistance and said:

"Yohoho! I'm Brook, from the Rumbar Pirates. I'm a musician."

"The Rumbar Pirates?" Lucifer closed his eyes as though searching for something. He then opened them and unfolded a massive biomatter display panel beside him, bringing up intelligence on the Rumbar Pirates.

The information was all from over thirty years ago. Most of it had been gathered from newspapers, while another portion had been copied when Lucifer secretly infiltrated the archives of Naval Headquarters over the past few days.

Seeing the image of himself when he had still been human, along with photographs of his Rumbar Pirates companions, on the display panel, Brook could not help but reveal a hint of nostalgia.

Lucifer stared at Brook. "I see. The Revive-Revive Fruit allowed you to survive. And that Island Whale constantly ramming into the Red Line at Twin Cape—should be the whale from your pirate crew, correct?"

"Uh... you mean Laboon?" Brook seemed to recall him.

Lucifer brought up the footage he had recorded earlier.

A massive whale appeared on the screen, its head covered in scars as it fought to the death, ramming itself into the Red Line.

"Laboon..." A hint of sorrow appeared in Brook's voice, and at the same time, a thought arose within him: he wanted to go to Twin Cape and see Laboon.

But whether the people before him would allow him to leave was a difficult question.

Wang Gao suddenly asked, "Do you want to see that whale called Laboon?"

His inner thoughts had been exposed in a single sentence. Although Brook was surprised, he still nodded. "..."

"Could you let me leave? I'm willing to agree to any conditions within my ability."

"How did you know what I was thinking?"

Brook was left speechless and thoroughly startled. The Rumbar Pirates had never been to the New World, so he knew little about the peculiarities of Haki.

Wang Gao smiled and waved a hand. "Just a minor application of Observation Haki."

"So this is the legendary Observation Haki!" After all, Brook had been trapped in the Devil's Triangle for decades, and had picked up some intelligence from other castaways.

Wang Gao smiled and extended an invitation. "Are you interested in joining my organization?"

"..." Brook fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "All right."

"Then welcome to the Human Reform League. This is your joining benefit." As Wang Gao spoke, he tossed over a Mecha Seed.

Brook casually caught it, only to discover that the seed rapidly took root and sprouted in his hand.

"Don't resist. This can give you a new life."

Brook did not resist. Before long, the Mecha Seed used a tiny amount of nutrients from the Mist Sea Tree to cover his entire body.

As the final brain formed, Brook's soul, which had been residing within his skull, unexpectedly fused with the brain once more.

Of course, the fusion was incomplete. Brook's soul could leave his body at any time; that was a characteristic of the Revive-Revive Fruit.

However, the Mecha Seed could gradually adjust Brook's genes according to his soul, eventually ensuring that the two no longer rejected each other. The process might take several years.

Thank you all for your support (ω｀). Thanks to readers "Jiang sipid," "Sunny Day One," "Time Is the Most Merciless," "Reader 20210417113739200," and "Wooden Man S" for the tips!