"Forget it. I will just use Kizaru as my Observation Haki training dummy…"
"But this Kizaru is really asking for a beating. Good thing people in the card space cannot talk. If he could, I would probably get so mad I could not even use Observation anymore."
"If this guy really is an undercover Revolutionary someday, I am definitely settling both old and new scores with him."
After silently making that promise to himself, Tenryū Yuto looked into the distance.
An island appeared up ahead. He turned and asked:
"Where are we now?"
"Your Highness, at our current speed, we will arrive at Baterilla Island in about half an hour."
Yuto gave a faint nod, his expression unchanged.
"A tiny island like that is not worth sightseeing. We will just resupply there and then head for West Blue."
Baterilla Island?
Was that not the island where Roger hid before he turned himself in?
At this point in time, Roger had already been executed by the World Government, but Portgas D. Rouge should still be on that island.
Yuto had no intention of meeting Rouge.
Most transmigrators who brought Rouge back and treated her like their own personal Cao Cao fantasy were top tier Celestial Dragon elites, already on the Five Elders' radar, future God Knights or even potential Five Elders.
Yuto, who wanted to jump straight to the final boss stage, was not going to attract that kind of attention.
As for taking Ace back and raising him as his own?
Do not joke.
You really think the Holy Land environment would make him more obedient?
More likely he would turn out like Uchiha Itachi and start pondering what it meant to exist. That would be a real spectacle.
…
One year later, West Blue.
Because a strip of Red Line separated South Blue from West Blue, Yuto had to return to Mary Geoise first before heading out again. The trip back and forth took quite some time. Add in the period he stayed in the Holy Land, and a year slipped by in the blink of an eye.
The year was boring, but Yuto's strength grew steadily.
Six months ago, his Haki had reached another threshold. His Observation crossed the line and stepped into the realm of future sight.
If Katakuri's future sight was the pinnacle of technique, then Yuto's future sight was pure numbers. A straightforward case of quantity transforming into quality.
With Observation Haki at the level of future sight, Yuto finally managed to defeat the young Borsalino.
Flipping the ability card in his hand, Yuto felt both excited and helpless.
Ability Card: Pika Pika no Mi.
That was right. Yuto had pulled the highest tier reward from Kizaru, the Glint Glint Fruit.
However, the card system did not erase the Devil Fruit curse. Using this card was no different from eating the Pika Pika no Mi.
"I can stand at the top of the world on raw stats alone. Why would I give myself a built in weakness?"
That was how Yuto saw it.
So he planned to reserve the card for someone who needed it more.
He could only eat one Devil Fruit. Or, in system terms, he could only fully use one ability card.
If he was ever going to take a Fruit, he would have to be extremely picky.
Right now, his only real subordinate was Aramaki.
Aramaki already had the Mori Mori no Mi, so he could not use this card. That meant the Glint Glint card would probably sit in Yuto's collection for quite a while.
Over the past year, his own strength had surged. By now, even if he faced the forty one year old Doflamingo from the original timeline, Yuto would have no trouble at all. You could say he had reached the level of a Yonko first mate.
On top of that, this year his odds of drawing swordsmen had gone up.
The card space seemed intent on shaping him into a full package fighter.
Thanks to all those swordsmen's efforts, his swordsmanship had skyrocketed. In just one year, he was already about on par with Zoro at the start of the Grand Line. He was only a step away from becoming a swordsman who could cut iron.
"Your Highness, something seems to be happening ahead."
One of the CP agents behind him spoke up.
Yuto did not bother to look up. Because his Observation Haki had been boosted purely through ability cards, it had always improved evenly in all aspects. Its range now was no worse than Enel's in the original story, so he had sensed the situation ahead long before.
On the sea in front of them, two ships were locked in a chase.
"Fire the cannons. Force that merchant ship to stop."
A burly pirate with a wide bladed sword stood by the rail, roaring at the top of his lungs.
Suddenly, a hand appeared behind his head and smacked him hard on the back of the skull.
"Do not fire, you idiot. If you blow the treasure into the sea, you can jump in and fetch it yourself."
The big pirate shrank his neck.
"Yes, Captain."
…
"Hm?"
Far away, Yuto, who had just been watching the show, suddenly straightened and turned his gaze in another direction.
A gigantic island ship came into view.
"What is he doing here?"
The newcomer was none other than Moria, who had recently suffered a disastrous defeat in Wano.
The man was truly unlucky. Kaido had wiped out his entire crew. Moria alone had barely managed to escape alive.
The island ship was not fast, but its sheer size made it impossible to ignore.
"Captain, contact at four o'clock."
On the pirate ship in front, the lookout shouted down.
The captain, a tall and slender man with long silver hair, looked where the lookout pointed and also saw the massive island ship.
His eyes bulged.
"W… what is that? An island… the island is moving?"
There were plenty of strong people in West Blue, separated from the New World only by a Calm Belt, but this silver haired captain clearly was not one of them. His lack of experience had him panicking in an instant.
Then he flipped straight from panic to joy.
"A moving island. Could it be the legendary One Piece?"
"No wonder no one has found it after all this time. So Laugh Tale can move."
"I knew it. I really am destined to be the next Pirate King. Hurry. Forget the chase. Turn the rudder. Laugh Tale is right in front of us. We cannot let anyone else get there first."
Hearing their captain, the pirates on deck grew just as excited.
"Long live the captain."
"Our captain is a genius."
"Hou, hou, hou."
Fired up by his nonsense, the entire crew steered straight toward Moria's Thriller Bark.
The pitiful fools had still not noticed the Sanctum or the Marine warship sailing alongside it.
What was worse, they were charging headlong into Thriller Bark, a place everyone else would avoid if they could.
Yuto watched it all with obvious delight.
He could easily imagine what kind of mood an emo stage Moria would be in when a bunch of low tier pirates barged in to bother him.
Compared to Moria himself, Yuto was actually more interested in the ship.
At this point, Moria had only just finished modifying the island. The ship could move, but its appearance was still very different from the Thriller Bark shown in the original story. That was why those pirates had mistaken it for an island.
Yuto studied the buildings on the island ship.
"Hmm. It really does look a bit like God Valley's architectural style…"
In his previous life, there was a theory that Moria's island ship had been remodeled from God Valley.
First, Thriller Bark had supposedly been an island in West Blue that Moria modified after returning from his defeat.
Second, several of Moria's zombies resembled former members of the Rocks Pirates.
Yuto remained skeptical of that theory.