[Big Daddy] Babaya!

Having missed his first opportunity to rise, Daddy had to struggle once more for his survival, continuing to study language and script while constantly training to strengthen himself.

The power belonging to a Logia-type Devil Fruit was truly shocking, leaving Daddy with a deep craving to obtain the abilities of a Devil Fruit.

Just like that, living a life of licking blood in the underworld, Daddy gradually ceased to be naive, becoming increasingly ruthless!

Because he had gradually mastered the language, combined with a brain many times sharper than the average gangster, Daddy climbed higher and higher within the Barto Family, his status rising accordingly.

Later, Daddy even deliberately curried favor with the Barto Family's boss, Cannibal Bartolomeo, and reached out to the old woman Bartolomeo respected most to gain greater authority.

As it turned out, this old woman was the true decision-maker of the Barto Family!

She was actually Bartolomeo's grandmother!

This was an old woman who had once roamed the New World!

Not only did she possess formidable strength, but she even understood both forms of Haki, which was why she could keep a gang leader like Bartolomeo as docile as a little lamb.

No wonder that after the future Barto Club set sail and ventured into the New World, they still frequently called back via Den Den Mushi to ask this old woman for navigational knowledge about the New World!

Daddy's rapid rise and deliberate performance within the Barto Family also allowed this old woman to see his ability and wisdom!

This old woman, named Tang, personally transferred Babaya—nicknamed "The Mute"—to Bartolomeo's side, intending to groom Daddy into a strategic right-hand man for Bartolomeo to help them manage and develop the Barto Family!

The nickname "The Mute" was also used less and less as people feared calling him that due to Daddy's growing strength.

Daddy also reclaimed the nickname "Big Daddy" for himself, a way to reminisce about his life in his original world.

This way, whether others called him "Big Daddy" or Babaya, Daddy's ears would automatically filter it as "Papa" or "Daddy," allowing him to take advantage of them!

Gang members with lower status than Daddy had to call him "Big Daddy," while high-ranking bosses like Granny Tang and Bartolomeo called Daddy "Big D."

A "Big D" who didn't like wearing a helmet.

Under Daddy's strategic planning, and with Bartolomeo actually having some real talent, the Barto Family developed even more rapidly, bringing over 160 small towns on the islands near Loguetown under their rule.

This already exceeded the 150-plus towns present when Luffy of the Straw Hats appeared in the original story.

Granny Tang, that old woman, finally began to slowly teach him some introductory training methods for the two types of Haki.

However, because this old woman worried that Babaya's strength might eventually surpass that of Cannibal Bartolomeo, she did not continue to teach Daddy anything more!

Nevertheless, she was willing to teach the extremely studious Babaya the navigational knowledge of the Grand Line and the New World, preparing him to be a navigator for Bartolomeo.

Daddy also assisted Bartolomeo with great "loyalty," even using a few cheesy pickup lines to successfully poach Bartolomeo's childhood sweetheart, Dezaya.

He helped him take good care of this heroic and beautiful red-haired woman.

After all, a cannibal like Bartolomeo had no interest in women, so Daddy had no choice but to till this fertile field for him!

I have to say, this spicy red-haired woman was bold, supple, and even more proactive after being won over!

She was much more satisfying than the girls on Blue Star!

Now that he had consumed the Paramecia-type Barrier-Barrier Fruit, he intended to fully integrate into this pirate world; from now on, his new name would be Daddy Babaya.

After all, the name "Big Daddy" Babaya had already gained some fame in the waters of Loguetown; he was the ruthless strategist of the Barto Family.

Moreover, this name also came from Dezaya, the first woman he had in this world.

Now that he possessed the power of the Barrier-Barrier Fruit, he could finally shed the label of a "dog-headed strategist"!

Daddy ignored the corpses on the ground; even if Bartolomeo and Granny Tang were to blame him upon discovery, he no longer feared anything!

Because no one knew exactly how much strength and how many trump cards Daddy, this schemer, had hidden!

Furthermore, in the East Blue, there were likely few people who could break the defense of the Barrier-Barrier Fruit.

At the very least, there was no one in Loguetown right now, not even Granny Tang, who possessed a bit of Armament Haki!

After all, even Kozuki Oden, a powerhouse who had been to the final island, Laugh Tale, and possessed all three types of Haki, could not break the protective barrier of Kurozumi Semimaru.

Daddy threw away the blood-stained watermelon knife in his hand and casually wiped his blood-covered hands.

He crossed his middle and index fingers, and a pale green, transparent barrier instantly appeared—incredibly hard, as if no attack could ever break its sturdy defense!

"Paramecia-type Barrier-Barrier Fruit, a creation-type ability among Devil Fruits. The development paths of people like Mr. 3, Doflamingo, Cracker, and Katakuri can all provide me with excellent ideas for development!"

Daddy whispered excitedly. Although he hadn't been able to hitch a ride with Fire Fist Ace to the New World to scheme for the Dark-Dark Fruit, he had now obtained a very good Devil Fruit ability, and the potential for this fruit was also very strong!

The Barrier-Barrier Fruit could be developed into many shapes: stairs, cylinders, spheres, rackets, and even crude giant humanoid forms had appeared before.

This reminded Daddy of the Susanoo from the Naruto world—wasn't that also an indestructible energy barrier?

"However, it seems the Paramecia-type requires specific gestures to activate; this must be overcome as soon as possible!"

Daddy thought of users like Nico Robin, Foxy, and Bartolomeo, who all had to perform specific gestures to activate their Devil Fruit abilities.

But if you look at the mid-to-late stages of the New World, who among the Paramecia-type big shots like Doflamingo, Cracker, and Katakuri is still restricted by specific gestures?

If you can only activate your Devil Fruit ability through specific gestures, it simply means your level of development is not deep enough.

At the very least, Doflamingo and Katakuri, who had already awakened their Devil Fruit abilities, could create strings and mochi at will without being confined to any hand gestures.

Cracker, on the other hand, still needed to clap his hands to continuously summon powerful biscuit soldiers, so perhaps his Biscuit-Biscuit Fruit had not yet awakened.

This is much like the history of hand signs in Naruto; in the early stages, every ninja diligently performed hand signs to activate ninjutsu, but by the end, the signs became increasingly simplified, reaching the exaggerated level where one could just clap their hands and get whatever they wanted.

Especially the Water Dragon Jutsu, which requires 44 hand seals for Zabuza and Kakashi, only needs 4 seals in the hands of Tobirama Senju and the eternal genin, Kosuke, while Mei Terumi requires only 6.

The number of seal-less ninjutsu in the late stages is also absurdly high.

"Right now, I need to cross the fingers of both hands to activate the power of the Barrier-Barrier Fruit, but in the future, I will be able to perform hand seals with one hand, with my toes, with my pupils, or even summon it without any seals at all!"

Daddy said with full confidence. After testing a few moves, he grabbed the corpse on the ground and tossed it into a large storage crate in the warehouse.

"Xiu'er, I'm sorry. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being loyal only to Bartolomeo!"

Daddy felt not a shred of guilt; after all, heaven destroys those who do not look out for themselves!

Besides, he wasn't even a native of this world to begin with!

This Barrier-Barrier Fruit, which should have been presented to Cannibal Bartolomeo, had now been intercepted by Daddy, the strategist, and even the gold-medal enforcer who escorted it, Yamashita Chuhide, had been ambushed and killed by Daddy!

There was no other way; this guy was Cannibal Bartolomeo's number one subordinate and was fiercely loyal to him, leaving Daddy with no choice but to take him out.

Yesterday, after clearing out opponents on an island and scavenging for loot, Yamashita Chuhide had actually obtained a Devil Fruit and immediately used a Den Den Mushi to contact Bartolomeo.

As it happened, Bartolomeo had gone out without his Den Den Mushi, and Daddy, serving as the strategist at headquarters, had casually picked up the call.

Yamashita Chuhide hadn't held anything back, happily sharing the good news with the strategist.

However, Daddy had intentionally or unintentionally asked Yamashita Chuhide if anyone else knew about the existence of this Devil Fruit.

When Yamashita Chuhide said no, greed immediately took hold of Daddy. Since the Dark-Dark Fruit wasn't so easy to obtain, there was no reason for him to turn down a Barrier-Barrier Fruit delivered right to his doorstep!

However, as an absolutely loyal subordinate of Bartolomeo, Yamashita Chuhide insisted on presenting the Devil Fruit to his boss personally and refused to hand it over to Daddy, wanting to use this opportunity to prove his worth in front of Bartolomeo.

That left Daddy with no choice but to find an excuse to lure Yamashita Chuhide to the underground warehouse, where he struck ruthlessly, killing this loyal dog to seize the Barrier-Barrier Fruit!