"Ten thousand boxes of special cigarettes, Description: Refreshes the mind and accelerates wound recovery."
Lucien gazed at the items from his Luck Value rewards with satisfaction. Ten thousand boxes of cigar meant years of supply. The cigarettes weren't ordinary; besides sharpening awareness, they boosted recovery, which felt almost obscene. And damn, they smelled incredible.
"Teleportation Talisman, Description: Allows instant random teleportation up to one hundred thousand meters."
Lucien's lips curled into a smirk. This was a lifesaving artifact. Without the previous teleportation talisman, he wouldn't have escaped Imu's clutches. One‑time use or not, its value was incalculable, and he'd never expected to draw it again.
"Thunder Breathing improved +1."
"Finger Pistol improved +1."
"Iron Body improved +1."
"Tempest Kick improved +1."
"One Da Ivan."
Sitting on a rock, Lucien took a deep drag of cigarette, filling his lungs, exhaling smoke through his nostrils as he stared at the last five rewards, feeling both disappointment and relief.
With a flick of his index finger, the air screamed, shaping into a spiraling shockwave that blasted through a distant cliff, carving a ten‑meter‑wide scar through the earth that stretched beyond sight.
Lucien pointed casually; the destructive force alone could crumble mountains and crack the ground. True, he could have trained slow and steady to improve Finger Pistol, Iron Body, and Tempest Kick — it would've taken only a few years to reach this strength — so those upgrades didn't impress him much, except for Da Ivan.
A crackling of golden lightning filled the air, and in a blur Lucien vanished from his spot, reappearing a thousand meters above. Thunder Breathing had boosted his speed immensely.
His defense was evident; even basic Iron Body was sturdy, and combined with Hardening and Armament Haki, his resilience would only climb higher. With a casual strike from his right foot, Lucien projected a Tempest Kick that spanned ten thousand meters — the force of a top swordsman — capable of cutting through mountains and cleaving seas.
The increases to Thunder Breathing, Finger Pistol, Iron Body, and Tempest Kick once again elevated Lucien's base strength. Though these techniques were basic, he believed mastering them fully — breaking their limits — could rival ultimate powers.
Take Thunder Breathing for example: trained to perfection, it might reshape space and time. Iron Body and Finger Pistol held similar ultimate potential.
He hadn't drawn another teleportation — a pity — but Lucien wasn't worried.
He needed a place to digest all this; he'd absorbed quite a lot today. Most especially the Soul Fruit, which required slow assimilation.
Returning to his original spot, Lucien vanished with Law and Mansherry.
…
Time passed. Two years slipped by in a blink.
The world was coming back to life. Survivors called the great conflict two years past the World War, where the World Government and the Savior Group both faced ruin and vanished together.
The Red Line had collapsed. Countless islands sank beneath the waves. Undersea eruptions, earthquakes, and natural disasters raged across the globe; even now, some sea regions remained volatile. Global population had dropped by sixty percent — an astonishing toll.
Yet after two years, Earth's crust had begun shifting in unexpected ways. Instead of diminishing, the number of islands rose dramatically — landmasses merged, creating continent upon continent. Life was regaining its foothold. This might've been a great extinction, yet new beginnings were sprouting everywhere.
Humans, always pests by nature, continued vying for power despite decimation. New kingdoms rose, their greed and ambition even more revolting.
With the Red Line gone, the Four Seas, Grand Line, and New World connected as one, plunging the seas into utter chaos. Pirates hadn't vanished. Bandits, thugs, and villainous factions flourished — only a few powerful kingdoms maintained basic order.
The world of pirates now wrestled in a brutal era of supremacy. Perhaps only a new World Government could stabilize it. Rumors spread that the thirty strongest sea kingdoms were secretly uniting, plotting to sweep the seas and shape a new global authority.
But none of this occupied Lucien's mind.
On a small island within the Grand Line, a town of roughly one hundred thousand souls under the Mox Kingdom stood relatively calm.
Five thousand meters beneath the waves, Lucien trained in black elastic shorts.
He was acclimating to the Devil Fruit's weakness to seawater. Because he could breathe freely underwater, his only real obstacle was feeling weakened. At such depths, pressure was immense; he didn't use weighted enhancements, relying solely on his body's prowess.
At first Lucien was helpless in the ocean, but two years of constant underwater cultivation had changed that. He was adapting. Only the Soul Fruit's abilities remained suppressed here.
Three hours later, Lucien strode from the sea onto the sandy beach. More than a dozen beautiful attendants awaited him — some holding towels, others with various supplies.
The pirate world lacked many things, but not stunning women.
After being tended to, he followed a winding path toward his sea‑view villa, where dinner and arrangements already awaited.
"Have Law come see me!"
Lucien called to the blonde maid beside him while enjoying his meal.
"Yes!"
Not long after, Law approached with his signature calm composure.
"The Immortality Operation will be tonight."
Lucien didn't look up. In two years he'd not only trained relentlessly but had also forced Law to grow stronger — his deadline creeping closer.
"Yes."
Law revealed no emotion; his thoughts belonged entirely to serving Lucien.
In these two years, he had indeed strengthened enough to perform the operation.
Night spread beneath star‑reflecting skies.
In a room on the villa's third floor, Lucien lay on the operating slab wearing oversized shorts. Mansherry stood near his head, prepared to use her abilities for healing if needed. Zeus, Napoleon, and Prometheus hovered nearby.
The surgical dome activated.
"Begin," Lucien said as Law prepared.
As Lucien closed his eyes, Law invoked the forbidden powers of the Op‑Op Fruit. A blinding radiance erupted, holding for ten minutes before disappearing.
Lucien felt as though he'd merely dozed, then he sat up. Mansherry still watched at his side, while Law lay motionless on the floor.
A reminder: Law was already a spirit. And now he was dead.
"Master, how is it?" Mansherry asked, her gentle voice trembling.
"I don't feel anything."
Lucien stood, unfazed. But when the update screen flickered into existence before his eyes, his eyelids twitched — it was a success.
He flipped to the lifespan section — the original countdown now entirely unknown ????
"Detecting updatable energy."
"Update now?"
Of course, the prompt had arrived.
Lucien knew that updating would change his lifespan from unknown into something trackable.
He lit a Cigar, inhaled, gazed out the window, weighing the decision.
Version 1.0 had been underwhelming.
Version 2.0 turned natural month into natural year and boosted rewards.
Version 3.0 allowed ten dice rolls to combine into a Luck Value bonus.
Each update transformed his useless Golden Finger into something formidable and impressive.
This would be Version 4.0 — unpredictable, but certainly worthwhile.
Though he wouldn't know how much life he gained, long‑term survival demanded the update. He was powerful, but still reliant on the Golden Finger.
Exhaling a smoke ring, Lucien sighed and chose to update.
He had no other choice. And he knew his "cancer" was absolutely not cancer.
___
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