The Sea Was Wide Enough for Fish to Leap, the Sky High Enough for Birds to Fly

The sea was wide enough for fish to leap, the sky high enough for birds to fly.

Storm sat cross-legged on the head of Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the fierce winds high above making his robes whip and snap.

He turned to look behind him.

Far below, Impel Down, grim and forbidding, quickly dwindled to a tiny black speck against the blue sea.

Only after Impel Down had completely disappeared from sight did Storm reluctantly turn his gaze away.

He had worked diligently at Impel Down for so long.

His key performance indicators had far surpassed Deputy Warden Shiryu's.

With their parting at hand, Storm couldn't help feeling a little reluctant and regretful.

There was nowhere else in the ocean as good for "grinding monsters"...

Ahem!

Storm quickly put that little pang of regret behind him.

He began taking stock of everything he had gained from this "Infinite Hell Hunting Plan."

One Big Trophy after another appeared out of thin air, arranged neatly in a dazzling, magnificent display.

The first to catch Storm's eye was naturally the six-star Death Trophy—

[Diamond Trophy: Catarina Devon]

Besides that, there was another five-star Death Trophy—

[Platinum Trophy: Byrnndi World]

Both Catarina Devon and Byrnndi World were prisoners Storm had personally taken down.

These two Infinite Hell inmates, sentenced to life imprisonment, had not only contributed their Big Trophies, but also their Devil Fruits!

Storm thought, and the porcelain-white scales on Blue-Eyes White Dragon parted like waves.

Three Devil Fruits of different shapes and colors appeared before Storm.

[Zoan: Chameleon Fruit]

[Mythical Zoan: Nine-Tails Fox Fruit]

[Paramecia: More-More Fruit]

Setting aside the Chameleon Fruit—

This ordinary Zoan was utterly useless.

Storm didn't even know what to do with it.

He couldn't be bothered to think about how to deal with the Chameleon Fruit.

Storm was more interested in the Nine-Tails Fox Fruit and the More-More Fruit.

"One's a Mythical Zoan that's practically the answer to everything, and the other's a Paramecia with simple, straightforward effects..."

Looking at the two Devil Fruits, Storm couldn't help rubbing the Demon Ring.

If one of the three Devil Fruits Aokiji had offered back then had been the Nine-Tails Fox Fruit or the More-More Fruit...

There would've been no need for the Clay Fruit at all...

Storm reined in his wandering thoughts and continued looking over the other Big Trophies.

Besides Catarina Devon and Byrnndi World, other prisoners had also been killed outright by the Clay Dragon Bullets in Infinite Hell.

They, too, had given Storm their corresponding Death Trophies.

Unfortunately, none of these Death Trophies was a six-star Diamond Trophy.

The explosive power of the Clay Dragon Bullets was still too weak against the truly strong...

There were, however, two five-star Death Trophies.

[Platinum Trophy: Plesi]

[Platinum Trophy: Bud Wang Grace]

Storm had some idea who these two were.

Before infiltrating Infinite Hell, he had specifically researched the names of the prisoners held there in secret.

These two had both appeared on the list, with brief notes about them.

Storm recalled the prisoner list he'd seen earlier.

Both men were Great Pirates with bounties of over five hundred million Beli!

Plesi, also known as "the Cunning" Plesi, was a Paramecia: Teleport Fruit user.

His bounty was over eight hundred million Beli.

Bud Wang Grace, nicknamed "Gray Cat," was a Paramecia: Launch Fruit user.

His bounty was six hundred million Beli.

(Character names and Devil Fruit abilities are all from the USJ stage play.)

To be fair,

setting aside a very few exceptions,

Great Pirates with bounties exceeding five hundred million Beli were almost never pushovers.

Both Plesi and Bud Wang Grace

had once been notorious Great Pirates who dominated their corners of the sea before being imprisoned at Impel Down.

They also both had reasonably good Devil Fruits.

[Paramecia: Teleport Fruit]. Its user could send any object they touched to a designated location;

[Paramecia: Launch Fruit]. Its user could conjure guns and cannons out of thin air and fire an unlimited number of attacks.

"These two Devil Fruits aren't weak, but they aren't strong either... Pretty middle-of-the-road!"

When Storm had gone through the list of prisoners held in Infinite Hell,

he had wanted to see whether any of them had outrageously powerful Devil Fruits he didn't know about.

After looking through it again and again, he had found that Catarina Devon and the others were still the strongest!

Whether judging by their own strength

or by their Devil Fruit abilities,

the strongest criminals in Infinite Hell were all among those who would eventually become members of the Blackbeard Pirates.

Of course,

Infinite Hell also held top-tier powerhouses like Devil's Descendant and Lone Red.

But the former had the Paramecia: Merge Fruit.

The latter didn't have any abilities at all.

Storm hadn't taken either of them seriously.

As for Plesi and Bud Wang Grace,

Storm had considered hunting them for their Devil Fruits, but there simply hadn't been enough time...

Besides, the Teleport Fruit and Launch Fruit were clearly far weaker than fruits like the More-More Fruit.

Storm had had no choice but to give up on those two.

He hadn't expected to see their names among the Death Trophies now.

There were only three five-star Death Trophies.

[Byrnndi World], [Plesi], and [Bud Wang Grace].

But there were plenty of ordinary Platinum Trophies.

Storm counted them carefully.

There were a full twenty-three!

Adding them all together, Storm now had twenty-six Platinum Trophies!

A sudden fortune!

As for the four-star Golden Trophies...

Infinite Hell also held plenty of prisoners with bounties over one hundred million.

Under the Clay Dragon Bullets' saturation bombardment, these criminals had almost no chance of survival.

Storm glanced over them.

There were too many Golden Trophies to count.

And nearly all of them were Death Trophies!

That meant Storm had basically wiped out all the prisoners in Infinite Hell with bounties over one hundred million!

"Cleaning up trash is everyone's responsibility!"

Storm wasn't interested in Golden Trophies.

At this stage, four-star trophies were basically useless to him.

Only five-star Platinum Trophies could improve his abilities.

As for six-star Diamond Trophies, those were for raising the upper limit of Storm's strength!

Storm's gaze passed over the countless Golden Trophies and the twenty-six Platinum Trophies, finally settling on the Diamond Trophies.

Besides Catarina Devon,

two other powerful criminals in Infinite Hell had also been taken out by the Clay Dragon Bullets.

They were both "old acquaintances" of Storm's—

[Diamond Trophy: Vasco Shot]

[Diamond Trophy: Sanjuan Wolf]

These two six-star trophies were ordinary Diamond Trophies, not Blood Diamond Trophies.

That meant Vasco Shot and Sanjuan Wolf hadn't been killed by the bombs; they had only been knocked unconscious.

"Three Diamond Trophies!"

"Twenty-six Platinum Trophies!"

"And countless Golden Trophies!"

"These are all the gains from this 'Infinite Hell Hunting Plan'!"

Storm thought, and all the Big Trophies vanished into thin air.

The only one left behind was Catarina Devon's Blood Diamond Trophy!

A six-star Blood Diamond Trophy!

Storm had previously considered using a Diamond Trophy to make a "wish."

He wanted to see if a six-star trophy could grant him a second Demon Ring!

But at the time, he had only had one Diamond Trophy, and the risk of making a wish with it had been too great.

In the end, he had used that six-star trophy to boost his Strength attribute.

Even back then,

Storm had considered one possibility.

Under normal circumstances, a Diamond Trophy could be used either to make a wish or to boost an attribute, but not both.

Under special circumstances, however, a Blood Diamond Trophy could do both!

The Blood Diamond Trophy was Storm's hope!

"Phew—"

Storm took a deep breath.

First, he used the Blood Diamond Trophy's attribute-boosting effect to raise the Clay Fruit's star rating by one level.

[Clay Fruit: ★★★★★★★] (Seven-Star)

At last,

Storm's Clay Fruit had officially reached seven stars!

It was also the only one of all his attributes and abilities to reach seven stars!

"Roar—"

Blue-Eyes White Dragon seemed to sense the increase in the Clay Fruit's limit and let out a joyful roar in response.

After boosting his Devil Fruit ability, Storm turned his attention back to the Blood Diamond Trophy.

The red glow surrounding the trophy disappeared, leaving an ordinary Diamond Trophy hovering silently in the air.

"One wish left!"

Storm stared intently at the Diamond Trophy.

"Lady Luck is smiling!"

Storm communed with the Big Trophy and made his wish.

Under his gaze, the Diamond Trophy burst into a dazzling radiance.

The crystal-clear Big Trophy eventually turned into an ordinary-looking silver-gray ring.

[Name: Demon Ring Replica]

[Star Rating: ★★★★★★] (Six-Star)

[Description: An artifact of ancient technology, modeled after the genuine Demon Ring]

[Effect: 1. Devil Power: The Demon Ring can absorb and store the supernatural factors contained in Devil Fruits, then use its own energy source to wield the Devil Fruits' original abilities;

2. Natural Energy: The Demon Ring can absorb energy from thin air and supply up to, but not including, Awakening-level energy]

[Review: Our years are engraved upon the ring]

Today was Tuesday.

It was time for the recommendation rankings again.

Please keep reading!!!!