A faint smile surfaced on Ron’s face.
“Pleasure to meet you, beautiful lady.
Could you tell me where it is?”
Faced with Ron’s sudden shift in attitude, the pink-haired woman froze for a moment, a trace of surprise flashing across her beautiful eyes.
Once she regained her senses, she hurried to give Ron a deep bow, speaking with eager restraint: “I…
I am also pleased to meet you, sir…
As I recall, the Marine officer placed that strange fruit inside the row of treasure chests behind you.”
Marine officer?
A flicker of doubt rose in Ron’s mind.
Weren’t they slaves who had been captured?
Yet she still referred to those culprits with respect?
Tch, quite polite, aren’t we.
Without another word, Ron turned around and began searching the row of chests behind him.
After rummaging through them, he finally discovered a fruit covered in swirling spiral patterns from an inconspicuous wooden chest.
Its skin was earthy brown, the markings winding across it like fissures in the ground.
“It really is a Devil Fruit,” Ron murmured in a low voice, the corners of his mouth curving slightly upward.
This trip hadn’t been in vain after all.
As for his cooperation agreement with Kaido, he naturally hadn’t forgotten it.
However, a truly powerful Devil Fruit suited to Kaido’s tastes was, according to the original timeline, still at God Valley in the hands of the Celestial Dragons.
Of course, if they managed to find an option better than the Azure Dragon fruit on this trip, Ron was more than willing to give it to Kaido.
Placing his hand on the Devil Fruit, he chanted silently in his mind: Open the Mysterious Roulette.
The moment that thought dropped, an ethereal voice echoed in his mind.
[Ding!
The Mysterious Roulette requires consuming a ‘Devil Fruit’.
Current Devil Fruit: Earth-Earth Fruit.
Confirm?]
‘An Earth-Earth Fruit, huh?’ Ron murmured inwardly.
‘Kaido wouldn’t be interested in this.’
“Confirm.”
[Ding!
Consumed Devil Fruit ×1.
The Devil Fruit has been reborn somewhere in the world.
Randomly drawing reward…]
[Ding!
Congratulations to the host for obtaining the ‘Nine-Tails’.]
[Ding!
Congratulations to the host for simultaneously unlocking: Passive · Malice Perception, Nine-Tails Mode.]
As the series of system prompts faded, a translucent blue virtual panel popped up before Ron’s eyes.
Host: Ron
Base Abilities:
Observation Haki: Intermediate (369/500)
Armament Haki: Intermediate (233/500)
Conqueror’s Haki: Intermediate (80/500)
Taijutsu: ?
(?/?)
Swordsmanship: Intermediate (150/500)
Physique: Sage Body (Unlocked), Sage Eyes (Locked)
Special Abilities: Four-Tails (Unlocked), Nine-Tails (Unlocked)
Triggered Abilities: Lava Release (Source: Four-Tails), Nine-Tails Mode (Source: Nine-Tails)
Mysterious Roulette >>> (Unlock condition: One Devil Fruit)
Ron gave it a brief scan.
The changes in stats weren’t massive, and the three question marks in the Taijutsu column still puzzled him.
When he first activated the system, Taijutsu clearly had numerical values and a rating.
Yet ever since he obtained the Sage Body from the Mysterious Roulette, that column had turned into three question marks and had never returned to normal.
Exchanging a generic Devil Fruit for the Nine-Tails…
no matter how he calculated it, this was a massive win.
Whoosh~
A head suddenly leaned right in front of Ron, practically pressed against his face.
Ron froze for a second.
Looking closely, it was Kaido.
“You’ve been secretly staring at this vulgar gold for ages?” Kaido straightened up, eyeing Ron with deep suspicion.
At first, he thought Ron had found a Devil Fruit and was trying to pocket it for himself.
He rushed over only to find the guy spacing out at gold coins.
“Come on, Kaido, is there really no trust between us?” Ron let out a wry smile, casually closing the virtual panel.
Kaido waved his hand dismissively and turned to walk toward the other side, speaking in a carefree tone: “No, don’t overthink it, Ron.
Our Apprentice Alliance is unbreakable; I trust you completely.
I just…
saw you staring at the chest for so long and got curious about what you were looking at, that’s all.”
“…”
“Hey!
What on earth are you two looking for?
Can we leave yet?” Stussy urged from the side, three bulging sacks already piled up beside her.
“Wait a bit longer,” Ron replied, turning back to the pink-haired woman.
“Are there any more?”
The pink-haired woman shook her head gently, her tone carrying an apologetic note: “I’m not quite sure…
I only saw the Marine officer pick up one.”
“As a reward for the information you provided,” Ron’s voice softened slightly, “I can offer you some help within my power.
What do you need me to do?”
“Really?” The pink-haired woman’s beautiful eyes suddenly lit up.
“You…
you truly are a good person.”
‘That last part was completely unnecessary…’ Ron muttered to himself.
It was nothing more than a fair exchange.
Of course, if her request proved too troublesome, he would refuse without hesitation.
“Well…” The pink-haired woman thought for a moment, lowering her gaze as if carefully weighing her words.
“If possible, I hope that after you leave, if you run into anyone from the Kuja Pirates…
you could pass a message for me.”
She quickly added, “Don’t worry, even though they are pirates, they are all good people, not ruthless monsters like the rumors say.”
The Kuja Pirates?
A thought struck Ron.
Was the purpose of Shakky’s group…
to rescue the woman right in front of him?
Suddenly, a bold idea crossed his mind.
If Shakky went so far as to partner with the Rocks Pirates just to save this woman, she had to be exceptionally important.
If he could take her and negotiate terms with Shakky and the others, that deal would be quite profitable.
“I refuse,” Ron said with a faint smile.
“If you have something to say, tell them yourself.”
“But I…” Before the pink-haired woman could finish, Ron reached out, grabbed the iron bars in front of him, and yanked them hard to both sides.
Creak.
The thick iron bars were pulled apart like cooked noodles, leaving a large opening wide enough for a person to pass through.
The other slaves in the cargo hold looked up one after another, faint sparks of hope lighting in their eyes.
Ron reached out and grabbed the explosive collar around her neck, Armament Haki coating his fingertips in an instant to plate the metal in pitch black.
With a forceful yank, the collar’s lock snapped cleanly.
He tossed it casually toward an empty corner of the hold.
Beep, beep, beep—
The alarm on the collar grew increasingly frantic, its red light blinking wildly.
A few seconds later.
BOOM!
A shockwave from the explosion detonated in the corner.
Flames flared for a split second, and shrapnel rattled against the cabin walls.
The pink-haired woman instinctively ducked her head, her hand touching her bare neck.
Behind her, the other slaves looked as if a savior had descended, scrambling forward one after another.
“Save me!
Please save me too!”
“I am the princess of the Doria Kingdom!” a woman adorned in extravagant jewelry shouted desperately.
“If you save me, I can pay you an immense fortune!
Gold, silver, jewels—whatever you want, I’ll give it to you!”
“I’m a princess too!” another young woman shoved past the person in front of her, practically throwing herself before Ron.
“As long as you rescue me, I can make you the royal consort, and you’ll inherit the entire kingdom in the future!”
Voices rose and fell in chaos—pleas, promises, and weeping blending into a single mess.
Ron frowned, raising a hand immediately to cut them off: “Sorry, I’m just a pirate, not a savior.
The conditions you’re offering hold zero appeal to me.
If you want to escape, you’ll have to rely on yourselves.”
Ron then turned his head toward Stussy, who was standing with her hands on her hips enjoying the show, and called out, “Hey, come over and give me a hand.”
A short while later.
Outside the battleship.
The battle between Sengoku and Whitebeard had gradually shifted from the warship’s deck to the beach along the shore.
This was a terrain favorable to both sides: Sengoku no longer had to worry about shockwaves damaging the battleship, while Whitebeard could rest easy knowing Ron was looting freely, as Sengoku couldn’t break away.
At this moment, the two stood more than ten meters apart, facing off on a stretch of sand plowed full of craters by shockwaves.
“Sengoku, you know it too,” Whitebeard said calmly, planting his naginata into the sand.
“Neither of us can decide a winner in a short time.
Why don’t we…
sit down and chat for a while instead?”
The corner of Sengoku’s mouth curved slightly.
Glancing toward the battleship, he looked back at Whitebeard and spoke slowly: “Your point is completely right.
But…
what if Garp has arrived too?”
“What?” Whitebeard’s face darkened.
Almost in that exact same instant.
Whoosh!
Deep within the dense forest, a figure leaped high into the air, fists clenched tight and coated in Haki.
“Newgate…
you really made me search hard for you!”