The captured Diamante soon became Noah's fourth Apostle.
[Knight of Swords: Diamante (Glint-Glint Fruit)]
Together with his previous three Apostles:
[The Devil: Pan Barton (Swap-Swap Fruit)] [King of Wands: Kuma (Steel-Steel Fruit)] [Page of Wands: Brian (Leopard Cat Fruit)]
This made Noah even more powerful. As he developed his fruit and strengthened his body, he could now not only summon Apostles to help him fight and carry out tasks, but also borrow their fruit abilities.
Of course, there were certain limits to this borrowing.
For example, he could only borrow one fruit's ability at a time. While he was using an Apostle's fruit ability, that Apostle could not be summoned, and the stamina he expended would also double.
Brian was currently stationed at the training camp in the Rum Kingdom.
Barton was in Rum City, the capital of the Rum Kingdom, assisting Uncle Joseph in managing the entire kingdom.
Noah, on the other hand, carried Kuma and Diamante with him. Kuma's Steel-Steel Fruit was a Paramecia-type fruit similar to the Smooth-Smooth Fruit, making it a good complement for Noah, whose physical strength was not particularly great.
Diamante could not be summoned casually either.
The reason was Vivre Cards. Doflamingo held the Vivre Cards of the Donquixote Family's core members, and once Diamante appeared in Apostle form, his Vivre Card could reveal his whereabouts.
Thus, Diamante had to be kept in card form to prevent his Vivre Card from detecting his location.
If Noah borrowed Diamante's fruit ability, the Vivre Card would likewise be unable to detect him.
The Glint-Glint Fruit's ability was actually quite good, and it even had a certain spatial ability. Turning objects into cloth, for example, was a form of spatial compression.
Diamante had only developed abilities involving smashing opponents with iron balls, iron thorns, and iron sheets turned to cloth. It was really the result of reading too little.
With the Donquixote Family's influence, gathering a large supply of bombs, poison gas bombs, incendiary bombs, glass water tanks, and the like would have been easy. By compressing those things into cloth, they could have achieved spatial storage much like that of the Card-Card Fruit.
Yet Diamante had not developed it in that direction. Instead, he had attempted an incongruous combination of fruit abilities and swordsmanship. His fruit ability was terribly developed, while his swordsmanship was only at the level of an ordinary swordsman, leaving him mediocre at both.
In Noah's view, the Glint-Glint Fruit's ability had a certain strategic value. Its proper role was support and ranged attacks; there was no need to rely primarily on swordsmanship or physical combat. It was enough to ensure that one could escape and evade enemy attacks.
As for the Steel-Steel Fruit, Noah's core development focused on experiments with steel and high-heat reactions.
As a Paramecia-type ability, the Steel-Steel Fruit itself could not create or control steel outside the body, but it could transform its user's body to mimic steel.
The term "steel" did not refer only to iron; it also included steel, an alloy material based on iron. A great deal of knowledge was involved, and an ordinary person would have had real difficulty developing it.
For example, low-carbon steel, medium-carbon steel, and high-carbon steel all had somewhat different properties.
High-carbon steel could be used to make springs, which meant that the Steel-Steel Fruit in a high-carbon steel state could replicate the Spring-Spring Fruit's ability.
As another example, in a pure iron state, the Steel-Steel Fruit's maximum temperature could reach 1,535 degrees Celsius.
Before the Magma-Magma Fruit was fully awakened, its maximum temperature was only around 1,400 degrees Celsius, so it could not melt the Steel-Steel Fruit at all.
In a rubidium magnet state, the Steel-Steel Fruit could also exercise some powerful magnetic abilities and even generate electricity inside the body.
There were also stainless steel, silicon steel, high-manganese steel, and the like.
In short, the Steel-Steel Fruit encompassed not only steel itself, but also the derivative avenues of high-heat reactions, magnetic-field power generation, and mirror reflection.
That was the power of wisdom.
Time flew like an arrow, and the years passed like a shuttle.
Before they knew it, another new year had arrived.
It was now January 1, Sea Circle Calendar 1506.
After roaming the North Blue for nearly half a year, Noah and his companions had not only grown stronger but also found three Devil Fruits on their journey.
Of course, during that time, Noah had also captured two pirates who possessed Devil Fruits.
Meanwhile, the North Blue had been thrown into turmoil over those nearly six months.
The reason, naturally, was Diamante's disappearance. It had enraged Doflamingo, who mobilized the Donquixote Family's underground forces to search throughout the North Blue for Diamante's whereabouts and capture the person behind his abduction.
With the Marines led by Tsuru also hunting Doflamingo in the North Blue, the Donquixote Family's position had become increasingly precarious.
None of this, however, affected Noah.
After all, Noah's Observation Haki now covered a radius of 120 kilometers in all directions, and its maximum sensing range in a single direction could reach approximately 600 kilometers.
The reason it had improved to such an exaggerated degree was naturally that Noah had combined it with the Steel-Steel Fruit's ability. He had created Rubidium Magnet Mode inside his body and used the electric current generated by his flowing blood to amplify electromagnetic waves, achieving an Observation Haki boost similar to that of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
With such an expansive Observation Haki range, as long as Noah did not want others to find him, he could change course or hide in advance to keep them from discovering his whereabouts.
Noah and his companions returned to the secret base in the Rum Kingdom.
As they celebrated the new year, they also had the new members and old members get to know one another.
The family's old members were Noah, Uncle Joseph, his younger cousin Joshua, Anthony, Tomani, Vic, Ray, Jay, Lilith, Lilian, and Mary, eleven people in total.
The new members included Andy, Mirei, Luo, and Lami's family; Bepo, the white bear of the Mink Tribe; Penguin and Shachi; and the sisters Monet and Sugar, nine people in total.
As for Apostles such as Barton and Brian, they could only be considered a part of Noah and did not fall into the category of complete humans.
The peripheral members were likewise not qualified to attend this annual gathering. After all, the Noah Family's core circle was privy to too many secrets that these people were not suited to know. This was also for their protection.
Lastly, there were the Winged People Tribe members who had been taken in, 388 in total; the training camp's young recruits, 321 in total; and the people just selected from among the survivors of Flevance, 261 in total. These people actually belonged to the Noah Family's middle ranks.
Noah looked at the family members gathered together and raised his grape juice. "Everyone, what the family has achieved today did not come easily. I hope we can all witness the arrival of New Genesis. Cheers!"
"Cheers!"
Everyone cheered excitedly.
After drinking his grape juice, Noah smiled and continued, "The family is growing larger and larger, and I intend to carry out a comprehensive reorganization."
Uncle Joseph chimed in, "Noah is right. The family's internal structure does indeed need to be readjusted."
"Here is what I have in mind. First, the family will establish a Round Table and select seven people to serve as rotating elders, assisting me in handling affairs."
"The seven elders will each manage one of seven departments: the Department of Internal Affairs, the Department of Military Affairs, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Supervision, the Department of Science and Education, the Department of Industry, and the Department of Resources."
Everyone listened intently.
"I appoint Lilith to head the Department of Internal Affairs and oversee the management of the family's internal affairs..."
"Joshua will head the Department of Military Affairs, with Anthony as chief of staff. They will be responsible for managing the family's armed forces and military development."
"Uncle Joseph will head the Department of Commerce and oversee the family's business operations, while also continuing to manage the Rum Kingdom."
"Mary will head the Department of Supervision, with Tomani as her deputy. They will be responsible for internal oversight as well as the Distillery's intelligence work."
"My Apostle Brian will temporarily head the Department of Science and Education. Jay will head the Department of Industry, and Ray will head the Department of Resources."
Noah paused for a moment, then continued, "At the same time, we need to divide the family's members into five ranks: patriarch, elder, officer, elite, and newcomer."