"Black Scorpion, White Centipede... why do I feel like I'm starting to look more and more like some demon lord?"
Ethan Sugawa sighed helplessly.
He had once thought that one day he might abandon the pirate's path. But judging by the forms of his weapons now, it seemed his fate was forever tied to life on the seas.
"Demon lord or pirate, it makes no difference. On the Grand Line, only strength and identity matter. If I can suppress everything in my path, I too can rule like Big Mom, worshiped as a god within Totto Land."
Ethan no longer hesitated about his own identity. He glanced at the two-meter-long black scorpion and spoke to the white wristband on his arm.
"This size is really inconvenient. Little White, use 'Size Manipulation' to shrink Little Black down a bit."
"Yes, Master."
Little White, returning to his centipede form, scurried up to the black scorpion and activated the 'Size Manipulation' skill.
A white glow enveloped Little Black, and its massive form rapidly shrank before Ethan's eyes.
In an instant, it transformed into a small scorpion-shaped pendant.
Ethan nodded in satisfaction and fastened Little Black onto his shoulder as an accessory.
Suddenly, he remembered that Hardy's treasure was still unclaimed. With a flicker of thought, he turned to the black scorpion.
"Little Black, can you use your magnetic force to pull out all the treasure Hardy had hidden?"
Hardy's pirate crew was fairly large, and it would take quite a bit of time to manually search for all the treasure.
Ethan figured the Black Abyss Sword's magnetic ability might speed things up.
The treasure chests were all made of metal, so Little Black should be able to draw them out with ease.
Little Black paused to sense the ship, then nodded.
"I can detect over ten treasure chests aboard this ship. Most are in the captain's quarters, but a few are hidden in the walls and under the floorboards."
"So Hardy wasn't being completely honest after all."
A cold glint flashed in Ethan's eyes.
Hardy had only told him about the treasure in the captain's quarters but had clearly left out the hidden compartments.
"Still playing games even in death. Looks like I made the right call not letting him walk away."
Ethan ordered, "Bring all the treasure chests here."
Little Black promptly released a burst of magnetic force, and the treasure chests flew out from their hiding places, landing one by one on the deck.
Ethan casually opened one chest it was filled with stacks of Berry bills. After a quick estimate, it contained around 100 million Berries.
There were four such chests in total, adding up to 400 million Berries.
The remaining eight chests were filled with all kinds of jewels and treasures, worth roughly 900 million Berries when converted.
"Plus Hardy's 300 million Berry bounty, this haul totals 1.6 billion Berries."
Looking at the mountain of treasure, Ethan couldn't help but sigh.
"Murder and arson truly bring the gold belt. Looks like I won't have to worry about money for quite a while."
Aside from Hardy's bounty, a few of his crew members also had bounties, though none of them were particularly high.
Ethan didn't mind. He collected their heads anyway, planning to claim their bounties from the World Government later.
After storing the treasure properly, Ethan noticed that Gloriosa had awakened and was stepping out from the cabin.
When she saw Aokusa, the green serpent, coiled around Ethan's neck, she frowned.
"Aokusa, what are you doing over there? Come down now."
"Hisss..."
Hearing her master's command, Aokusa gave Ethan one last reluctant glance before slithering back to Gloriosa's side.
Since learning Serpent Mastery, Ethan could faintly sense Aokusa's emotions. This little one genuinely enjoyed coiling around his neck.
Looking at Gloriosa, Ethan curiously asked, "Why does this little one seem to like me so much?"
"Probably because you're a Devil Fruit user."
Gloriosa noticed his puzzled expression and calmly explained, "Aokusa is different from other serpents. She once swallowed a piece of Seastone as a hatchling, which caused her to mutate. Her tail now carries the properties of Seastone, it can seal a Devil Fruit user's powers."
"She probably likes you because you seem like easy prey. Maybe she wants to seal your Devil Fruit abilities."
Ethan shuddered at her words and immediately looked at Aokusa with newfound caution.
His 'Deep Sea Voyager' skill only granted him underwater breathing it didn't change his fundamental weakness to seawater.
Which meant Seastone was still fully effective against him.
"If Aokusa had attacked me earlier, I probably wouldn't have had time to react. I would've instantly lost my Devil Fruit powers."
The more Ethan thought about it, the more he broke out in a cold sweat.
"In that moment, I would've been a defenseless lamb, with no way to fight back."
He was sincerely grateful that Aokusa harbored no hostility toward him. Otherwise, he might have already been devoured by the serpent.
Instinctively, he put a little more distance between himself and Aokusa. Only then did he turn to Gloriosa and ask, "I remember you went back to Amazon Lily after leaving the Rocks Pirates, right?"
"So how did you end up here, severely injured?"
Gloriosa sighed softly. "Not long after I left, I was ambushed by World Government warships. I managed to destroy them all, but I was gravely wounded in the process."
"I was hoping to find an island to recover, but halfway there, Hardy's crew targeted me. Luckily, you arrived just in time. Otherwise, I might have fallen into their hands."
As she spoke, Gloriosa looked up at Ethan, her cheeks flushing as her heartbeat quickened, a strange, unspoken feeling beginning to swell in her chest.
By her usual nature, she would've torn apart any man who dared take advantage of her while she was vulnerable.
But somehow, she felt no killing intent toward Ethan.
"Why am I developing feelings for him? It must be because he saved my life and because we used to be comrades in the Rocks Pirates."
She tried to convince herself, desperately suppressing the budding emotions in her heart.
"Oh, I see."
Ethan wisely avoided mentioning what had happened between them, or how Gloriosa had been drugged.
He didn't even need to ask. It was obvious that the aphrodisiac was Hardy's doing.
Looking at the still-weak Gloriosa, Ethan said seriously, "You're still injured. Amazon Lily is quite a distance from here. Since I'm not in a hurry, I'll take you back."
"...Thank you."
Gloriosa nodded and returned to the cabin to rest.
Ethan remained alone on the deck, steering the pirate ship toward Amazon Lily.
...
In the following days.
The ship was attacked by several pirate crews, but Ethan swiftly wiped them all out.
The souls of the dead pirates were absorbed by his Spirit Flower, while their blood was refined into blood pills, which he stored carefully.
"Shura's Sacred Flame!"
Ethan summoned his white flames, burning the pirate corpses to ashes. Then he swallowed a blood pill to heal his injuries.
The sword wounds on his body visibly healed at astonishing speed.
At the same time, the seed in his lower Dantian, nourished by the blood energy from the pill, finally began to stir.
The seed slowly sprouted, sending out its first tender roots.
"So the second seed's condition for blooming... is blood essence!"
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