March 14, 1510.
Hiding in Caesar's shadow, he had no time to cultivate himself.
Today is my first day infiltrating the Numancia Flamingo. I had two chances to kill the big guy Pica and one chance to kill the slovenly man Trebol, but I didn't do either.
The two are now nearly thirty and forty years old, respectively. Pica's "Stone-Stone Fruit" has Awakening, exuding an unrestrained Devil power. He should be the strongest member of the Donquixote Family right now, second only to Doflamingo in terms of fighting strength.
Although Trebol's fighting ability is somewhat lacking, he is indeed like the head steward of the "house"...
Their importance goes without saying, but... it's more meaningful to keep them for now!
Kaido didn't immediately give chase, which suggests that the Captain's friend was quite capable, and that CP0 had also sent some truly skilled fighters, not just the kind of guys who were easily defeated by Doflamingo, which prevented Kaido from reacting immediately.
Since they couldn't catch up immediately, it's probably going to be a long time before they can catch Doflamingo. Although this guy is very arrogant and even dares to talk back to Kaido, he's not stupid enough to directly confront Kaido. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been hiding for so long and only made his move at the very end.
That aligns with my goal—to hold Kaido!
If Kaido catches up immediately and knocks them all down with a few blows, then I'll be in real trouble...
Leaving Mayo Island with the Numancia Flamingo, I'm not too worried. Kaido knows Caesar Clown is missing and will definitely come after us. At that time, with only "Mountain Mover" Pawa and the seriously injured fake Captain John on the island, Moria and Yunlai shouldn't suffer too much.
Besides, I had no choice. In terms of the balance of power, exchanging me for Kaido's crew was a much better deal.
March 15, 1510.
Another day without the opportunity to cultivate.
Caesar had already hinted to Doflamingo that he and Kaido had a collaborative project, but Doflamingo didn't give Kaido any face at all. Instead, he warned Caesar that if he joined the Donquixote Family, he could live a life of luxury, but if he had any disloyalty, he would be taught a lesson.
As for Kaido and the like, Doflamingo didn't care at all—although he didn't want to fight him directly, he didn't think that Kaido was an insurmountable opponent.
Caesar was shrewd, or perhaps he simply didn't care, and immediately agreed.
When Doflamingo asked Kaido what he wanted him to research, Caesar immediately and honestly replied that the technology for "Artificial Devil Fruit" was nearing completion. Even though the samples had been lost, he could successfully develop them in the near future as long as Doflamingo paid him...
As for that "sample"...
I haven't had a chance to examine it closely yet. Living in the shadows, I'm still quite nervous, since I've never tried this before and only "guess" that I won't be discovered.
March 16, 1510.
Living in the shadows, my concealment is quite strong. Even though Caesar was being secretly monitored by Vergo, his Observation Haki didn't detect me.
Another day without time to cultivate, but today I did some research and found that the "Artificial Devil Fruit" I got before was indeed the "Little Pink Dragon" fruit!
Yesterday, Caesar told me that this was a "sample," and that he himself didn't seem to have fully succeeded in researching it. I had my doubts about that, but today I listened to him more closely and found that it was indeed a replica of the "Azure Dragon Fruit," Vegapunk's masterpiece.
Vegapunk once obtained Kaido's Lineage Factor, and using this as a starting point, he "copied" an Artificial Devil Fruit, which is the Mythical Zoan, the Azure Dragon Fruit, just like Kaido's!
However, Vegapunk himself claimed that it was a failure and terminated the research.
Caesar simply "took" it as his own research result and continued his research in the direction indicated by Vegapunk's "sample." He was almost successful—I could sense that he wasn't lying about that.
In the original work, this "failed fruit" was eaten by Momonosuke, who was able to transform into a mini pink dragon. However, it was indeed not powerful enough, and the transformation was not entirely at his command.
However, judging from the later spoilers, Momonosuke, with the power of the "Ripe-Ripe Fruit," jumps directly from eight to twenty-eight years old. When he transforms into his beast form, his size and physique are similar to Kaido's, except his scales are pink...
So although Vegapunk called it a "failure," it's hard to say whether it truly was, or in what way it failed; I haven't found any yet.
March 19, 1510.
On the sixth day aboard the Numancia Flamingo, the inability to properly cultivate made me somewhat anxious.
Fortunately, listening to the "Artificial Devil Fruit" is an ongoing process.
Based on my observation...
This Artificial Devil Fruit indeed somewhat of a failure?
The "Devil" within it seems to have very little consciousness. But if that's not a huge problem, what's more important is that the power to alter Lineage Factor that is found in normal Devil Fruit seems exceptionally weak in this one.
To learn more, I specifically began using "Psychological Suggestion" on Caesar today, making him eager to begin further research on "Artificial Devil Fruit" aboard the Numancia Flamingo.
March 20, 1510.
The Numancia Flamingo docked today at Bender Island —a small island in the New World, and among the smallest of the "official" islands with magnetic fields.
However, there were quite a few people there, because the unique feature of this place is its "black market"!
The underworld organizations of the New World gather here to conduct business. Not only is the black market for individuals thriving, but it is also... a place to negotiate many "big deals".
As the "Joker" who runs an underground Doriki organization, Doflamingo is very familiar with this place and resupplyes here directly.
And the advantage here is that you won't be betrayed—otherwise you'd be ostracized by all underground organizations!
Unfortunately, Caesar could not disembark and remained under Vergo's surveillance...
However, I seized an opportunity, taking advantage of the moment when Caesar and Gladius's shadows intertwined, and parasitized him.
This spiky-haired guy used to fight me back in Beihai, but now he's no match for me at all, and he's completely oblivious to the extra thing in his shadow.
While Gladius disembarked to purchase supplies, I subtly used "Psychological Suggestion" several times while he was mingling with the shadows of passersby—if even one of these suggestions succeeded, the Numancia Flamingo's whereabouts would be exposed!
After all, it's been several days. I'm afraid Kaido won't be able to find him and will just return to Wano Country...
March 23, 1510.
Although I was a little unhappy that I couldn't do my usual exercise, I was twice as happy today!
Firstly, Caesar was finally completely immersed in deep hypnosis, and I began to extract knowledge about Artificial Devil Fruit from him;
Secondly, the Numancia Flamingo was blocked by the King of Tyranny of the Beasts Pirates...