What appeared in Ren's hand was a completely blank card. Its texture felt ordinary, nothing special to the touch—just an average card.
But the description projected by the light screen made him take it far more seriously.
"So this is how you use it…?"
Ren quickly grasped the general method of operation from the card itself.
Holding the blank card upright between his fingers before his brow, he fixed his gaze on the swirling Rainbow Mist ahead.
He projected his thoughts into the card—feeding it the conceptual parameters of the Rainbow Mist, shaping it into a "heaven and earth" framework.
Almost simultaneously, the blank card glowed with a soft white light. With a whoosh, it shot out of his hand and vanished into the Rainbow Mist.
Then—
A vortex of white light erupted, replacing the Rainbow Mist's reflection on the ocean's surface.
Day turned to night, sunrise to sunset.
In the unseen realm beyond Ren's perception, the blank card lost its physical form, becoming a white hole that voraciously devoured everything around it.
Shipwrecks, seawater, even the distorted flow of time itself—all fell within its grasp.
Matter was the first to be drawn away, leaving the Rainbow Mist completely hollow.
Then the mist itself dissolved, followed by the time-distorting force that once lurked within it.
Everything inside was extracted, absorbed, and transmuted—until, finally, it was reforged into a single Land Card.
Two cycles later,
On the undulating sea, the Six-Winged Angel looked on as a dazzling glow appeared out of nowhere.
It was a card, floating motionless in midair.
Square and neat in design, with a silver-gray background depicting a clock set to twelve.
The card's silver border gleamed with golden filigree, and elegant white vortex patterns traced each corner.
Even at a glance, it radiated an extraordinary aura.
Ren slowly approached and took it into his hand. Instantly, a light-screen description appeared.
[Land Card: Temporal Turbulence]
Origin: Unknown Dimension
Type: Planeswalker Creation
Effect: Formed from a triple-enhanced Blank Land Card that captured the phenomenon of temporal turbulence. It contains an exceptionally rare power of time itself.
However, as the user is not a practitioner of the Planeswalker System, the card's temporal energy cannot be properly harnessed to generate stable time energy as a full-fledged Land Card.
The excess power leaks uncontrollably, granting only one passive trait—Eternal Observer.
Eternal Observer: While holding this card, the user enters a state of eternal observation. Their personal timeline halts permanently. Regardless of how time flows around them, they remain fixed in that moment.
Neither aging nor death will ever touch them. They will be unaffected by external forces—yet also unable to affect the external world in return.
A truly peculiar card.
From its description, it was clear that since Ren wasn't a Planeswalker, he couldn't fully manifest the card's potential as a true Land Card.
Still, the mere fact that it rendered its holder immune to all external influence was terrifying enough.
Judging by the "eternal" descriptor, it likely meant total invulnerability—even standing within a volcano would leave one unharmed.
But the downside was equally severe: total inability to influence anything, as if turned into a phantom.
For Ren, that was a crippling drawback—utterly unacceptable.
Fortunately, this card was only meant to serve as material for synthesis.
Ren quickly returned to Ruluka Island.
Half a day's journey meant little when flying at full speed with his Elytra wings.
On the island, the collapse of the Wetton family's rule had caused quite the commotion—
Though not a negative one.
Because of the Rainbow Mist, Ruluka's situation was unusually complicated.
Mayor Wetton's governance had revolved entirely around one goal: acquiring the treasure hidden within the Mist.
To reach that treasure, he needed to locate the Mist and build the necessary exploration equipment.
And all those funds had been squeezed from the islanders—
A level of taxation comparable to the "God's Land" of Skypiea.
The difference was, Skypiea's ruler used oppression to provoke rebellion; Wetton's tyranny existed purely to hoard money without ever lifting a weapon.
Thus, when Nojiko began implementing her plan, everything went surprisingly smoothly.
The strategy was simple—exchange jewels for Beli.
Ren's crew always operated by one principle: a deal is a deal, no matter who you are.
They took what they deemed fair payment, and left the profits to the seller.
A true win-win exchange.
For the people of Ruluka Island—recently liberated from Wetton's grasp—it was a miracle.
When all was tallied, the total amount exchanged reached 110 million Beli.
It practically drained the island's entire economy dry.
Sure, if they had sold the jewels elsewhere, they might have made even more.
But achieving such a clean transaction was already impressive enough.
During this time, Ren focused on his own work—combining materials through a Synthesis Scroll to forge what he desired most.
The scroll contained six slots. The sixth—reserved for the main material and final product—was occupied by the Land Card: Temporal Flow.
The remaining five were filled with auxiliary items:
Doctor's Backpack (medical utility)
Dimensional Zipper (spatial utility)
Experience Recorder (sensory recreation)
Imagination Helm (multiple upgrades completed)
As for the final slot—
Ren wasn't sure what to use. The core components were already in place.
This upcoming time-based artifact was meant to fulfill a very clear purpose.
Ren knew his current strength roughly stood at the level of a Warlord of the Sea.
He could handle Crocodile.
But against Moria, it would be dangerous—without external aid, he'd face extreme risk.
If he utilized Nami's "external plug-in," victory would come easily.
Boa Hancock? A similar story.
But against Doflamingo or Kuma? Ren alone would almost certainly lose.
Even with Nami's help, the outcome would be uncertain.
To guarantee victory, he'd need the Judgment—his ship—to enter battle and unleash nature's fury itself.
Even then, that only tipped the scale against Doflamingo.
Against Kuma or Mihawk, the difficulty spiked again—battles Ren likely couldn't win no matter the conditions.
His strength still relied too heavily on external power.
Though improving, his own growth couldn't match the terrifying speed at which his future opponents evolved.
His Calabash Brother Template wasn't yet fully integrated, and while his Qi cultivation and Haki had merged, they were still in early development.
True power required time.
Even talents like Ace, Luffy, and Sabo—each blessed with monstrous potential—had struggled in their youth against pirates with mere million-Beli bounties.
Talent needs time to mature.
Those three only soared after setting sail because of years of prior accumulation.
Patience before explosion—that's the rule.
And Ren? He wasn't that type of prodigy.
He was simply… a dedicated pay-to-win grinder.
But that, too, was his greatest strength—an unmatchable BUG of a power.
This time-based machine was meant to patch that weakness—to accelerate growth safely and effectively.
It had to allow rapid, side-effect-free progress—preferably for the entire crew.
And it needed safety mechanisms, testing features, and stability.
All the current materials could fulfill those conditions.
But something was still missing.
Ren pondered deeply… then reached a conclusion.
Since it was such a rare temporal artifact—perhaps one of a kind—why not give it an offensive edge?
Or better yet… evolve it even further, into something truly divine.
He turned his palm, summoning two critical items before him.
A simple horn—
The Soul-Shattering Horn, which allowed him to split into clones.
And a wooden effigy—
The Totem of Undying: Steve's Tear, capable of nullifying death itself—a true lifesaver, impossible to reproduce through any ordinary means.
The first was low in grade, but its unique property could trigger an unexpected synergy in synthesis.
The second, exceedingly rare and precious—a one-time resurrection treasure.
He'd once drawn two of them by sheer luck, a jackpot-level prize from the Golden Roulette.
That same event had nearly gotten him killed by "Red-Haired JPG," after thinking he'd been plotted against by Garp.
No, he wasn't eager to face that level of danger again.
If I'm lucky, the Soul-Shattering Horn will grant me the ability I want. But if I use the Totem and it works, maybe it could grant revival to the whole crew…Then again, if it fails or has limited range, I'd lose my ultimate safety net.
Ren hesitated—but in the end, decided not to gamble.
He doubted the synthesis scroll, even as a Hundred Million-tier prize, would produce something so overpowered.
So he placed the Soul-Shattering Horn into the final slot—and began synthesis.
White light flared, then faded.
Before him appeared a magnificent card.
It shimmered with metallic luster, a black base overlaid with glimmering gold motes that formed an ancient clock face.
Its hour and minute hands were frozen at midnight.
A majestic, divine aura emanated from it.
The light-screen data cascaded like a waterfall:
[Space-Time: The Creator]
Origin: ??
Type: Phenomenal Entity
Effect: Created from the fusion of the Land Card: Temporal Flow and multiple synthesis materials through the Synthesis Scroll. It possesses immense space-time power and unique world-altering capabilities.
Due to the mental concepts infused into the scroll during synthesis, its power was guided toward a distinct manifestation—
Trait: Domain of the Space-Time Creator.
[Cost: Time]
Ren held the black-and-gold card between his fingers, eyes wide at the stream of data.
Its power was staggering—terrifying even.
And then his gaze landed on the final line:
Cost — Time.
Even just reading it sent a chill down his spine.
(End of Chapter)