Another three days passed.
Holding onto his last shred of hope, Dr.
Indigo went to the laboratory and found Jellal on the verge of death.
Thus, he had no choice but to report to Golden Lion that the experiment had failed.
Golden Lion had already been prepared for this outcome; he just felt it was a bit of a pity.
“A youngster with decent talent, yet he cannot be of use to me,” Golden Lion thought with some disappointment, waving his hand dismissively.
“Throw him into the beast enclosure to feed the wild animals!”
This was their usual disposal method—failed test subjects were always fed to the beasts!
Dr.
Indigo understood Golden Lion’s mood.
Without a word, he returned to the laboratory and looked at the frail figure on the sickbed, a complex emotion flickering in his eyes.
He had failed again.
Ever since he and Golden Lion had broken out of prison, he had been researching “IQ” and various evolution drugs.
While there had been some progress with the evolution drugs, the “IQ” he valued had not succeeded.
Over the years, he had conducted numerous live experiments.
For some reason, he felt a twinge of pity for this little boy now.
Sighing, he said, “Sigh, I’ll at least leave you with an intact body.”
He picked up Jellal and was about to leave the laboratory when his eyes fell on the snow drinker sword.
He took the sword as well, found a random spot on the island, and buried both the boy and the blade.
In the middle of the night, a torrential downpour began, but Golden Lion did not move the floating island away from the area.
At that moment, he and Dr.
Indigo did not give up despite Jellal’s failed experiment.
Instead, they continued experimenting with various animals in the laboratory.
The heavy rain poured down, washing away the soil covering Jellal.
Suddenly, Jellal moved!
He struggled with great effort, using the last of his strength in his legs to kick away the dirt covering him.
Finally, he crawled out of the mud pit!
Jellal looked around blankly, then up at the sky.
The rain washed over his body, the cold water bringing a sliver of clarity to his muddled mind.
Jellal assessed his own body, and the next moment, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly—he smiled!
He wasn’t dead!
Not only that, he felt his body had grown stronger!
And he had gained the power of that Devil Fruit!
The only headache was that he wouldn’t be able to fully absorb the internal energy until he reached adulthood.
Jellal looked at the mud pit, dug out the snow drinker sword, and then unsheathed it.
“Clang!”
A crisp, cold sound rang out.
On the island, fierce winds raged and rain poured down.
The blade of the Snow Drinker reflected the lightning, shimmering with an unusual light!
Jellal looked toward a house on a highland of the floating island and murmured slowly, “Heh heh heh!
Golden Lion, I really have to thank you.
I’m very satisfied with this body!
But now, I need to escape under cover of darkness.
If Golden Lion discovers me after daybreak, it’ll be trouble!”
Jellal stood up, holding the Snow Drinker, and quickly began moving away from Golden Lion’s laboratory.
Finally, he arrived at a dense forest.
Looking at the towering trees, an idea suddenly struck Jellal.
He would make a glider and fly down from the floating island!
By now, the rain had gradually stopped, and a sliver of dawn light appeared on the horizon.
Not daring to waste any more time, Jellal began cutting down a large tree to make the glider.
A little over an hour later, the glider was finished.
The sky had cleared, and the sun had risen!
Jellal knew he couldn’t wait any longer.
He securely tied the snow drinker sword to his back and looked down from the floating island.
Damn, it was really high!
But Jellal had no other choice.
Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the glider and jumped!
“please bless me with a safe landing just this once!
Otherwise, I’ll write a novel portraying all of you as villains!”
As the glider descended lower, its speed increased!
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Jellal finally caught a vague glimpse of land!
But as time went on, Jellal suddenly felt something was off about this land.
“Wait, this is the damn Red Line!”
Looking at the sprawling palace complex getting closer below, Jellal was dumbfounded.
It was actually near Mary Geoise.
“Thud!”
“Damn it!
No!”
At that moment, an accident occurred with the glider—one of the wooden struts in the middle snapped!
The glider began to sway unsteadily!
“I’ll have to gamble on this!
I hope those bastards don’t spot me!”
Gritting his teeth, Jellal struggled to control the glider and finally landed in an empty backyard at the edge of Mary Geoise!
His heart was pounding so hard he felt it might leap out of his throat!
Before anyone could spot him, he quickly hid the glider, then ran to a secluded corner, gasping for breath to calm his nerves.
That was way too intense!
This was Mary Geoise!
The center of the world!
After his emotions stabilized a bit, Jellal began surveying his surroundings.
He saw no people, but there were some surveillance den den mushi.
Jellal figured this was likely the residence of some Celestial Dragon, and the owner was probably not home, which made it easier for him to escape.
“I need to get out of here fast.
This place is full of monsters.
I just ate the Devil Fruit and can’t use much of its power yet.
If I run into a Haki expert, I’m definitely no match!”
After thinking for a while, Jellal concluded that the only way to escape was to climb down the Red Line, just like the Fishman Tiger had done.
Once decided, Jellal began looking for an opportunity to sneak out of this opulent palace.
But just as he was about to run off, he looked back at the palace and thought, since he’d come all the way to Mary Geoise, he shouldn’t leave empty-handed!
In the end, Jellal sneaked into the palace and located this Celestial Dragon’s treasure vault.
Perhaps because no one had ever caused trouble here or broken into Mary Geoise before, the security was exceptionally lax!
When Jellal reached the vault’s large door, there was no guard in sight!
It was simply secured with an ordinary padlock.
Jellal drew the Snow Drinker, sliced through the padlock with one strike, pushed the door open, and walked in.
“Holy shit!” Jellal’s eyes instantly turned into the shape of beli coins!
All sorts of gold, silver, and treasures were piled up like mountains!
Boxes of brand-new beli were neatly arranged!
They were filthy rich!
Jellal suddenly felt a pang of regret.
Why did his system have to run out of energy!
If he had a system inventory, he could clean this place out and never have to worry about living in this world!
“Huh?
Devil Fruits?”
Jellal spotted several small boxes—identical to the ones used for Devil Fruits in the anime.
He walked over to the small boxes and opened one.
Inside was a banana-shaped fruit covered in intricate patterns!
Jackpot!
Jellal quickly found a piece of cloth, placed all the Devil Fruit boxes on it, then looked at the mountain of treasure.
He took a few items that looked valuable, grabbed some beli, packed everything up, and slung it over his back.
“I need to get out of here, fast!
Damn it, heavens, are you denying me this fortune?!”
Jellal walked to the door, glanced back at the mountain of gold, and felt a sharp pang of heartache.
Finally, he steeled himself, closed the door, fled the palace, and made his way along paths with no people or surveillance until he reached the edge of the Red Line.
Looking down into the abyss-like depths, Jellal thought about that Tiger guy.
He was really something else!
He managed to climb up, rescue people, and then escape from Mary Geoise!
That was truly badass!
“Screw it, I’m doing it!
If he can do it, so can I!”
With his mind made up, Jellal began climbing down.