Lucas casually tossed the last withered corpse of the slave trader into the sea; the body sank rapidly like a lead weight.
He turned and walked into the cabin, collapsing heavily onto Aily’s large, spacious bed.
He scoured all his memories regarding Devil Fruits, yet there was no record indicating that the Bat-Bat Fruit, Model: Vampire possessed the ability to plunder others’ powers.
“Could it be…”
Lucas sat up abruptly, a bold hypothesis forming in his mind.
“Did my special constitution fuse with the Vampire Fruit to create a new ability—plundering Lineage Factor?”
Once this thought emerged, it could no longer be dismissed.
The source of a Devil Fruit’s power is the Lineage Factor.
The man known as having “wisdom that surpasses humanity by five hundred years” created the artificial Azure Dragon fruit by extracting Kaido’s Lineage Factor;
later, building upon that foundation, he developed the Green Blood technology, allowing the Seraphim to temporarily use Paramecia-type abilities.
The Lineage Factor is the key to what this world calls the “Realm of the Gods.”
His own special constitution is, in essence, the ultimate absorption and conversion of life energy.
Now, combined with the Vampire Fruit’s blood-sucking ability, being able to absorb the target’s Lineage Factor along with it actually seems plausible.
Thinking of this, instead of feeling happy, Lucas felt a cold sweat break out on his back.
In the web novels of his past life, there were at least eighty or a hundred villains who exploded and died because their internal powers were chaotic or exceeded their carrying capacity.
No one knew just how many different types of Lineage Factors his body could actually contain.
If he was greedy and bit off more than he could chew, only to blow himself up, that would be the ultimate joke.
He certainly didn’t want to self-destruct from drinking too much blood.
“The plan needs to change.”
Lucas rubbed his temples and made a decision.
“Companions and such can be put on hold.
The most urgent priority is to find a reliable doctor to thoroughly examine my body.”
According to his original plan, after arriving at the next island, the first thing to do would be to recruit companions and build his own force.
Wanting to take revenge on Golden Lion, relying solely on one person’s strength was far from enough.
However, plans never keep up with changes.
In the face of one’s own life, everything else has to take a back seat.
Having made up his mind, Lucas’s tightly wound nerves finally relaxed.
The exhaustion from the past few days and the lethargy following the battle washed over him, and he soon fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning.
Golden sunlight streamed through the porthole into the cabin, casting dappled light and shadows on the floor.
After Lucas got up and washed, he remembered that yesterday he had been so shocked by the changes in his body that he had completely forgotten to check the spoils of this ship.
He left the cabin and searched the entire ship from top to bottom, carefully and thoroughly.
Besides enough food, fresh water, and ammunition to last three months, he didn’t find any gold or jewelry.
It seemed that Aily had spent all her money on greasing palms and expanding her influence.
Finally, in the Captain’s quarters safe, he only found two things: a Log Pose and a stack of wax-sealed envelopes.
On the base of the compass, a line of crooked text was carved with a knife: Doerena Kingdom.
Lucas set the compass aside, picked up the top envelope, and broke the wax seal.
The handwriting was elegant; it was undoubtedly Aily’s.
He read it word for word, and the expression on his face gradually became intrigued.
The content of the letters was mostly about cargo transfers and profit sharing, and each letter was signed with the same name at the bottom—Karma.
“Karma…”
“So it was this guy.”
Lucas was no stranger to this name.
Back in the day, this Karma was a notorious slave trader who had even once attempted to kidnap Kozuki Toki.
Later, he defected to Whitebeard and transformed himself into an allied Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, publicly declaring that he had “turned over a new leaf” and would no longer engage in those heinous deeds.
The Marine intelligence reports stated clearly in black and white: on Whitebeard’s territory, human trafficking, illegal drug trading, and all other grey industries were strictly prohibited.
Anyone who wanted to join the Whitebeard Pirates had to voluntarily abandon these businesses.
Now it seemed that was nothing but self-deception.
“A dog can’t change its habit of eating excrement.
He plays the game of feigned compliance quite well.”
Lucas sneered, crumpled the letter into a ball, and tossed it into the trash can.
It seemed Whitebeard wasn’t some all-seeing, perfect man either.
Who knew how many wolves in sheep’s clothing like Karma were still hiding in his territory.
He picked up the Doerena Kingdom Log Pose again and examined it carefully in the sunlight.
The needle of the compass pointed steadily in one direction, showing no signs of tampering.
“I hope this thing is real.”
It is common knowledge that the direction of a Log Pose can be tampered with.
But if this Log Pose was genuine, then things would be much easier.
He also had a deep impression of the Doerena Kingdom.
In the original timeline, the nobles of this country once publicly insulted Luffy in Dressrosa, only to be taught a lesson by Bartolomeo.
(Chapterp 720 of the manga)
Later, when Koala was investigating the underground arms trade, she also discovered ships from this country.
(Chapterp 747 of the manga)
This indicated that the Doerena Kingdom was a country that looked respectable on the surface but was colluding with the Underworld behind the scenes.
And such countries were, without exception, members of the World Government.
Only member nations needed to hide these shameful dealings.
Non-member nations would have long since openly treated human trafficking and arms trading as pillar industries of the nation.
A member nation capable of conducting large-scale arms trading with the Underworld would definitely not be small in size.
Such a country would certainly have formal travel agencies.
As long as he could get there, he would be able to use a travel agency to travel to a country where he could seek medical treatment.