The flames behind King burned more vigorously, and under these circumstances, the sunlight changed. Originally, it was the rising sun, the sunlight wasn't particularly scorching, but after King used his skill, the sunlight became even more dazzling.
In this bright sunlight, both Blaziken and Tropius can benefit from it; a battle with John is bound to be a chaotic scramble. To achieve better results in the fight, teamwork becomes even more important.
And so King takes on the role of the weather handler.
Under bright sunlight, the power of flame-type skills will be enhanced, and Solar Beam will skip the charging process. King's own flames also gain a certain degree of boost under the brilliance of the sun.
Aerodactyl's abilities give King more high-altitude advantages; he is currently the most suitable person for handling the weather. The energy consumption of altering the weather is far greater than the boost of Sword Dance on oneself.
So controlling the range of the battle is crucial, Shaina is more prone to impulsiveness, so the weather handler role was entrusted to the more rational King.
Next is a new attempt, which is Arceus teaching out a skill, whether indirect teaching can allow others to learn.
Specifically, King teaches Queen Sunny Day, while Shaina teaches Kaidou Sword Dance. Even if the opponents grasp a little bit of it, it signifies the possibility of indirect learning.
Moreover, the boost from Sword Dance is calculated based on the user's strength, with Kaidou's current power, although not at his peak, stacking buffs could still pose a sufficient threat to enemies in terms of attack power.
This process continued for seven days, Queen grasped a little bit of the way to Sunny Day, but Kaidou had no clue about Sword Dance, this confirmed one thing; abilities related to Arceus can be indirectly learned to master more skills.
But if the inherent ability is unrelated to Arceus, learning this type of skill is impossible.
Subsequently, Arceus tried instilling the usage method of Sword Dance to Kaidou, and this time it succeeded, but unlike Shaina, although Kaidou's Sword Dance had the same effect, its consumption was greater and duration shorter.
This is due to bodily differences; using this skill forcibly with an unrefined body is like wearing shoes that don't quite fit, but walking on a road full of gravel, ill-fitting shoes are better than having none.
However, this doesn't pose a significant problem for Kaidou, who can endure such consumption with his physical stamina.
There's still that old problem, remodeling Kaidou now consumes too much; at this stage, they can only make do.
After this period of navigation, Arceus and the party have entered the waters of the Natehuo Kingdom and witnessed just how fierce the local customs are.
At this moment, in the nearby waters.
A ship flying the Natehuo Kingdom flag engaged in fierce battle with a group of pirates across The Sea. The battle was initiated because these pirates sold off the loot they hijacked from Natehuo Kingdom, but they refused to give the kingdom its cut, thus sparking the conflict.
The passing Arceus and his group paid no attention to them, instead utilizing the speed of their remodeled ship to head towards the main island of Natehuo Kingdom.
"I haven't seen John, that guy, for five years now. He wielded the Dual-Sword Style, ranking as the weakest among the cadres at the time. He isn't Linlin's match, but he is still formidable, and the John that Purilite impersonates is a completely different person."
Kaidou was engaged in educational work, speaking of his impression of John's abilities.
"You're not his match?"
"No, with my Fruit Ability, in a direct fight, I should be on par with him."
Kaidou is always very shrewd, in situations where he's temporarily not the match but needs to achieve goals, he doesn't mind using some tactics. He's much stronger than he was five years ago, and unless something unexpected happens, John won't be his match.
"But these past five years, he won't have stood still, plus with his subordinates, our forces aren't quite sufficient."
"The Plate is the main objective, but I haven't sensed its presence; either this place is too large, and the Plate hasn't entered my sensing range, or there's simply no Plate here."
"Thus, the John issue is imperative; there's no possibility for negotiation, as John treasures wealth like his life, and any treasure, even those meaningless to him, he won't relinquish.
However, there's an eighty percent chance the treasure is here, as John's location hasn't changed in a long time."
Looking at the Life Card in his hand, Kaidou had a rough conjecture; the flutter frequency of the Life Card indicates the distance between the holder and the target.
When the distance is extremely far, the Life Card will only lean slightly in that direction, whereas as the distance closes, the frequency of its vibrations grows increasingly larger.
Based on the changes in Life Card's frequency over this time, it can be deduced that John hasn't stayed put and has been wandering around, but for the past month or so, he's remained on this island without moving.
As they approached the shore, Kaidou decided to abandon ship. Natehuo Kingdom has rather rigorous border inspections, and an approaching ship wouldn't escape their notice, which isn't what Kaidou wants.
Moreover, the ship has begun to fail to meet their needs; due to the gray areas, Natehuo Kingdom has a thriving shipbuilding industry, so Kaidou plans on directly obtaining a ship of his own here, continually using the Navy's patrol vessels isn't a long-term solution.
Asie and Olga initially wanted to stay on the ship, not because they wanted to seize the chance to escape or anything—Grand Line's danger level is far from what they can handle—but for safety.
However, Queen gave them a wake-up call.
"Don't joke around, this is Natehuo Kingdom, a gray area on the Grand Line. If the ship is docked in the harbor, people here will take care of it due to custody fees, but a Navy patrol ship left on the sea? Are you afraid there aren't enough pirates being attracted?"
If they spot a large warship, ordinary pirates will naturally avoid them, but a small vessel like this in many pirates' eyes would just be an opportunity for revenge.
This father and daughter duo's combat strength against pirates would just be feeding themselves to them, and even if Kaidou is nurturing Olga, it's the same; this won't yield results so quickly.
Their best outcome is to follow Kaidou and the group to land, then stay in the kingdom's cities.
Kaidou led Arceus and the party into Natehuo Kingdom, while Fleit continued his surveillance endeavors. John hasn't made any moves during this period, seemingly being a vacationer.
He also saw the target of the Life Card; although the face is different from Purilite's, given Purilite's abilities, the opponent could very likely be disguised, so he didn't doubt it.
According to his recent intelligence gathering, in three days, Natehuo Kingdom's unique Sea phenomenon—Great Low Tide—will occur, he suspects John has been waiting for this for quite some time...