Night fell, dark yet strangely bright.
The stars glittered across the sky like scattered fireflies, illuminating Cake Island's central castle, which shone brilliantly even in the darkness.
In the flower garden behind the castle, Lucien sat cross-legged on the grass, eyes closed. Under the pale moonlight, a faint shadow slowly separated from his body.
A cool evening breeze passed through.
Lucien floated into the air and looked down at his own motionless body sitting on the ground. His soul stood above it, his expression calm and thoughtful.
"So this is soul out-of-body. The Soul Fruit really didn't disappoint me."
That was right.
Lucien's soul had completely left his body.
Three months had passed since he subdued the Beasts Pirates, and during these three months, Lucien had been staying on Cake Island to cultivate.
Not only did he need time to stabilize and control the terrifying surge of ki gained from his near-death state, he was also focusing heavily on developing the Soul Fruit.
The overflowing ki was now mostly under control.
As for the Soul Fruit, it had reached a brand new stage.
Lucien could now leave his body at will, and even after doing so, his combat power remained unchanged. At first, he even suspected that this soul out-of-body state was fake.
There were no weaknesses like sunlight.
However, Armament Haki could still harm him.
Otherwise, it would be similar to elementalization, where physical attacks would simply pass through him.
Even in soul form, Lucien's combat power was still at one hundred percent.
Great Might Heavenly Dragon, Thunder Breathing, and Kamehameha could all be used without any loss in power.
In simple terms, whatever his physical body could do, his soul could also do.
On the other hand, if someone wanted to attack Lucien's soul, they would need Armament Haki.
Or extreme heat.
Although Lucien was not afraid of sunlight, high temperatures could still injure him.
So his soul state was not like traditional ghosts.
Another point was that ordinary people could clearly see his soul. It was not like in old horror movies where one needed special techniques, spiritual vision, or strange rituals.
Ten days ago, Lucien had also created multiple soul avatars and sent them across Totto Land to harvest the lifespan of the residents.
His demand for souls was enormous.
Not only did he need them for himself, but the Homies in Totto Land also required a steady supply, especially his three main ones: Prometheus, Zeus, and Napoleon.
Although Lucien rarely used them in actual combat now, he continued feeding them constantly to strengthen them.
Lucien had also transformed the Ghost Rider-style motorcycle helmet and the Red Wolf frying pan into Homies, injecting massive amounts of souls into them.
From a distance, one could see the ghost helmet and frying pan strolling around together with Prometheus, Zeus, and Napoleon.
At the same time, Lucien had a clear realization.
If his physical body were completely destroyed, his soul would not survive for long either. Eventually, it would dissipate into nothing.
Unlike cultivation novels where as long as the soul remained, death could be avoided.
Perhaps this situation could change in the future.
But for now, Lucien knew very well that he had not developed the Soul Fruit to that level. There were still many weaknesses.
Moreover, once Lucien's soul left his body, his physical body would become completely immobile, entering a suspended state. At the same time, his soul could not stay outside for too long.
However, as the Soul Fruit continued to evolve, the duration of his soul separation would naturally increase.
During these three months, besides mastering his surging ki and developing the Soul Fruit, Lucien also conducted repeated experiments on the Saiyan near-death ability.
Half a month ago, he secretly had Kaido, King, Katakuri, and the others gang up on him.
In the end, both sides were injured. But after recovering, his ki did not increase at all.
He even tried self-mutilation, pushing himself into critical condition.
After healing, the near-death ability still did not activate.
Lucien's expectations completely collapsed.
It had to be said, this was extremely disappointing.
The near-death ability clearly had many hidden restrictions.
Perhaps it was because Kaido and Katakuri were now his subordinates.
Or perhaps there were other unknown conditions.
In any case, the result made Lucien very unhappy.
After thinking it over repeatedly, Lucien finally set his sights on two people.
Whitebeard.
And Garp.
Perhaps only these two monsters on the seas could truly push him to experience death again.
It might even require both of them at the same time.
This was not arrogance.
After fully mastering his current ki, Lucien estimated that it would take the combined assault of Kaido, King, Queen, Jack, Katakuri, Cracker, Smoothie, Snack, Daifuku, Oven, and Doflamingo just to beat him into a critical state.
And even then, at least seven or eight of them would probably die.
That was assuming Lucien did not activate his war background music.
Otherwise, he could easily show them why flowers are red within those five minutes and twenty seconds.
Although this near-death ability could not compare to a true Saiyan's absurd growth, where one returns from death with power multiplied by millions or even hundreds of millions, it was still a complete bug in Lucien's eyes.
Even with restrictions, it was not a one-time ability.
It could be triggered again and again.
Early the next morning, Lucien sat at the dining table eating breakfast while listening to Galette's report.
"Master, news from Stussy. The Straw Hat Pirates are still training inside the Calm Belt, and Silvers Rayleigh has not returned to the Sabaody Archipelago."
"Enel and Fire Fist Ace also show no abnormalities."
Currently, Stussy, the Donquixote Family, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Beasts Pirates had all secretly become Lucien's allies.
On the surface, they still acted independently.
But in reality, they all served him.
"How is Caesar doing?" Lucien asked calmly, cutting into a thick piece of Sea King steak and swirling the red wine in his glass.
"Caesar's research on poison gas weapons and explosives has achieved initial results, but it is still far from Master's expectations."
Galette stood beside him in a pink hip-hugging skirt, her long legs smooth and pale.
She had been the one who served him last night.
"Tell Caesar to speed it up. How is Law's training?"
Lucien frowned slightly.
"He undergoes hell-level training every day. As long as he still has one breath left, Kuma and Mansherry can bring him back."
"Have everyone prepare. We leave for the Whitebeard Sea in three days."
Lucien finished the wine in his glass and wiped his mouth with a tissue.
He was about to go look for death again.
Even if something went wrong, he was not afraid.
Kaido, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Donquixote Family were all under his control.
Even wiping out the Whitebeard Pirates completely was within his grasp.
"Yes," Galette replied respectfully.
For the next three days, Lucien continued eating, drinking, and cultivating.
At the same time, the others received news that they would be moving against the Whitebeard Pirates in three days.
However, something unexpected happened the very next day.
Lucien sat at the head of the table, staring at the newspaper in his hand with visible surprise.
The Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army had been captured by Blackbeard and handed over to the Marines.
This was interesting.
Lucien immediately understood what was going on.
Blackbeard originally planned to capture Ace.
But after his strength grew, Blackbeard realized he could no longer defeat Ace.
So he shifted his target to Luffy.
But now, the whole world knew that Ace, Luffy, and Sabo were brothers. Their backgrounds had been completely exposed.
Even after three months, Garp was still locked inside Impel Down.
And because of Lucien's interference, the Straw Hat Pirates had vanished completely into the Calm Belt.
Blackbeard waited for two months and still could not find them.
So after careful consideration, he chose a compromise.
Sabo.
The Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army.
Aside from the Four Emperors, only the Revolutionary Army was powerful enough to make the Marines truly cautious.
Only if a major war broke out would Blackbeard have a chance to infiltrate Impel Down and rescue his companions.
Otherwise, there was almost no hope.
Moreover, Sabo was the brother of both Luffy and Ace.
They would never stand by and do nothing.
Combined with the identities of these three, it was guaranteed to trigger a massive chain reaction.
And the World Government had always wanted to eliminate the Revolutionary Army.
This was the perfect opportunity.
Just as Blackbeard predicted, once the Marines received Sabo, they immediately publicized the news across the world.
They openly declared that Sabo was in their custody, forcing the Revolutionary Army to come and rescue him.
They even claimed that if the Revolutionary Army abandoned their own comrades, then all their talk of justice and peace was nothing but a joke.
Now, the Revolutionary Army was completely trapped.
If they went to rescue him, they would fall into the World Government's trap and risk total annihilation.
If they did not go, the World Government would smear them publicly, destroying their credibility and influence.
In the eyes of the World Government, the Revolutionary Army was a far greater threat than pirates.
So during this period, countless news reports spread across the world, all meant to force the Revolutionary Army into making a choice.