Otherwise, Edward Weevil would never have been able to rout the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates' fleet after the Marineford War.
Even a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. If you want to pick up scraps, you still need the strength to do it.
"So in other words, it'd be best if I handled it myself?"
Ren pondered for a moment, then opened the Diamond Roulette and immediately did a draw.
As the rainbow light spun, a streak of brilliance shot out.
.
[Combat Dispatch]
[Origin: ???]
[Type: Skill]
[Effect: This skill requires a massive amount of energy to activate. External energy may be used as a substitute, or the user may inject their own energy.
Once the activation threshold is met, the skill will display subordinate units connected to the user through their affiliated network and use them as teleportation markers.
After a 10-second guidance period, the user will teleport to the location of the selected marker, while leaving behind a main marker at the original location.
After the battle is complete, the user may reactivate the main marker by injecting energy again and teleport back.
However, note that the teleportation range depends on the amount of energy infused. The farther the distance, the greater the energy consumption.
Returning to the main marker does not require guidance and is instantaneous.]
[Consumption: Any type of energy]
.
{Chip Balance: 9 billion}{Diamond Roulette Progress Count: 10}
It was quite unexpected. A skill had actually come out of the 1-billion prize pool.
Still, judging from its effect, it was worthy of the quality expected from a 1-billion pool.
Most importantly, it was the very last line of the skill description.
Theoretically speaking, if Ren had enough energy, he could use an Angel of Glory as a marker, teleport across the world to Wano, beat Kaido up, and then instantly teleport back before Kaido even had time to react.
Forget Shuron Hakke—even some crazed dragon version of it wouldn't be able to touch a single hair on Ren's head.
He could also scatter Angels of Glory all across the world, teleport from place to place, then repeatedly switch and update the main marker, making it impossible for anyone to ever catch him.
"Very nice. It looks like the rewards in the 1-billion prize pool are all high quality."
Ren thought of Meteor Burst. That skill too could become unimaginably powerful once certain conditions were met.
If it devoured all the lightning within a thundercloud, then by his estimate, it would at most let him contend with King.
But if it devoured the Judgment's main cannon, it could suppress King and even go toe-to-toe with Kaido.
At the time, he had even thought of something mentioned in the latest plot developments—the Mother Flame.
That thing had appeared only after the Wano arc. It was an energy source researched by Vegapunk.
Based on the descriptions from the story and the scattered bits of information available, Ren suspected it was an infinite energy source—or at the very least, something on the level of a fusion or fission nuclear power plant.
From what the Five Elders had said in the story, it was certain that the weapon which destroyed the Lulusia Kingdom was powered by the Mother Flame.
He wasn't sure whether that weapon was Uranus, which had still never properly appeared.
Judging from the scene of Lulusia Kingdom's destruction, it also seemed like it might be the national treasure of the Celestial Dragons.
But it didn't seem to have anything to do with Doflamingo's ultimate move, Sixteen Holy Bullets: God Thread.
Previously, Ren had believed that Sixteen Holy Bullets: God Thread had probably been inspired by the Celestial Dragons' national treasure.
So from that angle, the weapon that destroyed Lulusia Kingdom seemed like it might not be the treasure mentioned in the original story after all.
But one thing was beyond doubt—it possessed terrifying destructive power.
When Lulusia Kingdom was destroyed, the sky darkened overhead.
That meant the attacker had to be some enormous existence.
Then came that bizarre sound, followed by a rain of pillar-like beams slamming down onto Lulusia Kingdom.
The Five Elders then informed the Marines that Lulusia Kingdom had never existed in the first place.
That island, home to tens of thousands, was completely erased afterward, leaving behind only a bottomless pit that continuously swallowed seawater.
Truth be told, merely destroying an island was not enough to make Ren pay this much attention.
Whether it was him or Kaido, both of them had ways to completely erase an island's existence and leave a massive submarine crater behind.
As long as it wasn't something on the scale of Alabasta, that is.
However, the crater left behind where Lulusia Kingdom had once stood had an extremely special characteristic.
Just like the sea around Enies Lobby, the crater in the spot where the island used to be was continuously swallowing seawater.
At the same time, when Lulusia Kingdom was erased, other places in the world were also affected.
Ren had every reason to suspect that barrage of light beams had punched straight through the planet's crust.
He didn't know exactly how many meters deep it had penetrated, but it had definitely gone far beyond the limit of what either he or Kaido could accomplish.
And because of that, one question naturally arose.
What if Ren could obtain the Mother Flame as an energy source—or, more precisely, the fusion furnace from the original story that was capable of producing the Mother Flame—and use it as a superior replacement material for Meteor Burst?
How strong would he become?
There was no answer.
But it would definitely surpass the limits of what Ren could currently achieve.
After all, no matter its scale or destructive power, the Judgment's main cannon could only destroy a single island at best!
Still, for now, it was only a thought.
"At this stage, Vegapunk is probably still researching it. The Mother Flame wasn't entirely developed by him alone."
Ren recalled the plot and thought of the mechanical warrior being researched on Egghead Island. "Vegapunk relied on his own genius, as well as that dormant mechanical giant sleeping in the forest on Egghead—the one suspected to belong to the Great Kingdom.
"By researching it and recreating the technology on its body, he was able to achieve all those scientific breakthroughs.
"That process takes time, step by step. Trying to snatch it now would not only exceed what my current strength allows, it also wouldn't necessarily get me the Mother Flame.
"So the best approach is still to take things one step at a time.
"First, I finish what's on my plate regarding the Marineford War, while also making some arrangements concerning Kuma.
"Kuma and Vegapunk are connected. So should I make everyone else forget Kuma, while preserving Vegapunk's memories of him?
"There may be some risk in that, but judging from the plot, Vegapunk is a good person… and then there's the surveillance system on Egghead Island… Should I start from Stussy's side?
"But Stussy probably wouldn't do anything that would harm Vegapunk. After all, Vegapunk is her creator, and he also gave Stussy the dignity and respect due to a human being.
"In the original story, she chose to defy orders because of Vegapunk, refusing to let Lucci harm him…"
Scarlet light flickered through Ren's crimson eyes.
Once again, he began plotting, weighing and refining the path he would take in the future.
Any initial plan was bound to be imperfect. All he could do was patch it little by little until it became a nightmare for his enemies.
Back in Dressrosa, he had once said that schemes and tricks alone could never take someone to the very end.
That didn't mean he intended to abandon schemes and tricks.
Useful things were useful. There was no reason not to use them.
At the end of the day, Ren was not the sentimental type.
If anything, he was extremely pragmatic.
After settling on that direction, he first contacted the Revolutionary Army and used their intelligence network to search for Edward Weevil.
Kuzan had already fulfilled his promise. Naturally, Ren would not casually go back on his own word.
After that, he dispatched the Angels of Glory, using them as markers for Combat Dispatch.
He believed there was a high probability that Edward Weevil was somewhere in the New World.
The first time that mother-and-son pair had appeared, they had been hunting down the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates in the New World.
And in the New World, Ren could not guarantee that Shanks would really wait as he had predicted.
Of course, maybe that wouldn't be the case.
But caution was always the necessary choice.
It was worth mentioning that the Angels of Glory were not at full strength. Only a little over thirty of them were sent out on this mission.
Each one acted alone, serving as a marker in a different location.
The Angels' combat capabilities had already been tested in the battle of Dressrosa.
Their performance had been excellent. Most of the ordinary members of the Donquixote Family had been handled by the Angels of Glory.
Some of the Angels, under the leadership of a War Angel, had pressed Baby 5 and Buffalo so hard that the pair could barely lift their heads.
The other officers had also been suppressed and worn down.
Because of that, Ren and the others never had to deal with an exhausting war of attrition against the Donquixote Family's fodder troops.
And Ren had also noticed that during this battle, the Angels of Glory had once again evolved in terms of combat standards.
They had mastered the traits of the Light-Heat Messenger and begun imbuing their close-combat chainsaw swords with intense heat, turning them into weapons like molten saw blades.
They had even developed a small trick—using the Light-Heat Messenger's properties to create a flash technique.
Before entering melee combat, they would release a blinding flash first, then close in and engage.
At the same time, the enchantments on their battle armor had become increasingly complex.
It was clear that the Angels of Glory were improving at an astonishing pace, and the result of that progress was that among the newly created Angels of Glory, the proportion of newly promoted War Angels had risen significantly.
One had to know that a fully equipped War Angel had three-dimensional attributes at the level of:
[Strength: C++], [Agility: C++], [Constitution: B-]
That was already the standard possessed by the core officers of the Donquixote Family.
Even so, Ren was still thinking about whether he could continue strengthening the Angels of Glory—and expand their scale.
One of the main reasons was that the Angels of Glory had suffered severe losses in the Dressrosa campaign.
Out of a combat force of 500, only a little over 100 remained after the battle.
Although many of them had died while surrounding and suppressing the Donquixote Family's core officers—and had perfectly accomplished their suppression objectives—
he still hoped the individual strength of his army system could become even greater.
And besides, 500 was simply too few. If he had hundreds of thousands—
he was certain he would never have to act so cautiously as he did now, worrying about this and worrying about that.
"In that regard, I'll probably have to rely on the draws."
Ren's gaze fell on the Dimensional Roulette. After thinking for a moment, he began to act.
The Devil Fruit he had originally intended to save for the finale was, after revising the plan, directly offered in the Sea Offering.
.
[Sea Offering Judgment… Supreme!]
[Still needs more…]
[Great Fulfillment — Triggered!]
.
Ren immediately began drawing multiple times in a row, while also preparing Synthesis Scrolls as the core tools.
He opened with a lucky double strike, then added the blessing of Fulfillment.
The colorful roulette spun madly, throwing out one streak of light after another.
One prize item after another appeared, only to be merged together by the Synthesis Scrolls.
One scroll was not even enough.
Two… three…
In the end, even the gigantic torch that had originally given birth to the Angels of Glory was taken by Ren and used as material.
When Ren had exhausted every last bit of his funds, what he obtained in return was a truly terrifying aggregate.
[Glory Sanctuary]
The name sounded rather chuuni, but in reality, it was a miniaturized cube.
And the data associated with it began refreshing like a waterfall.
(End of Chapter)