Skypiea, Heaven’s Gate.
Above the boundless White-White Sea, Seven was seeing off his only crewmate: Vice Captain Dracule Mihawk.
“Mihawk, take this gold for travel expenses.”
Skypiea, or rather the City of Gold, lacked nothing when it came to gold.
Otherwise, Seven would not have been able to use it to pave the way for cooperation with Kizaru.
Mihawk accepted the bundle.
“Captain, when do you plan to set out to sea?”
Now that he had witnessed the legends of Skypiea and the City of Gold, it was time for him to continue his training.
In particular, his defeat to Kizaru had strengthened Mihawk’s resolve to train.
Yet for some reason, he felt a little sad.
After spending barely two months together, Mihawk realized rather belatedly that he truly acknowledged Seven.
Seven thought for a moment.
“Two years from now.”
“I’m fifteen now.
When I turn seventeen, I’ll return to the sea and find you.
Then we’ll ride the wind and waves together and look for the rest of our companions.”
Although Seven alone could practically form an entire crew, if he wanted to establish himself on this sea, relying only on himself and Mihawk would be far too difficult.
They had to find more like-minded crewmates.
People like Kuma, Jinbe, and even the future Marine Admiral Fujitora, Issho.
All of them had to be recruited.
“Mihawk, while you’re training, if you meet anyone who looks decent, don’t forget to invite them for this captain.
I’ll handle the ship.”
Mihawk nodded.
“See you in two years.”
The reason he was willing to join the Morning Star Pirates was simple convenience.
Having an almost all-purpose captain like Seven really did make things less troublesome.
With that, Mihawk turned without looking back and jumped straight down from ten thousand meters in the sky.
Seven seized the moment, pulled out a Vision Dial, and wildly snapped pictures of Mihawk’s heroic figure.
“What a shame.
Mihawk keeps wearing that hat, so it’s blocking the Flying Bamboo-Copter…”
Ever since he met Mihawk at Twin Cape, the two had traveled together to Loguetown to see Captain Roger off on his final journey.
After that, to avoid pursuit and buy Musou Isshin, Seven had rushed all the way to Skypiea without stopping.
The journey had been too hurried.
He had never properly admired the scenery along the way.
Now, the pace finally slowed.
Seven walked along the land of Skypiea with his hands in his pockets, occasionally greeting the people he met.
“Lord Thunder God.”
If not for the little wings on the backs of both the Sky Islanders and the Shandia, which looked somewhat out of place, Seven really would have wanted to rename Skypiea Inazuma.
Why was he so fixated on that?
Because it was fun.
In the entire world of One Piece, the country best suited to the name Inazuma was undoubtedly Wano Country.
With Seven’s current strength, even if Mihawk were added, they still could not defeat the Kaido Pirates.
The gap between them was not only in personal strength, but also in the number of crew members.
After the God Valley Incident, the Rocks Pirates had disbanded.
Fourteen years had passed since then.
Kaido was now thirty-five, right in the prime of his life.
Seven, meanwhile, was only fifteen and had not fully developed yet.
It truly was not suitable for him to clash with Kaido.
This was simply how Seven did things.
He took one step, looked two steps ahead, and thought three steps ahead.
He had only just occupied Skypiea, yet he was already thinking of bringing Wano under his command.
The reason was geography.
Skypiea was ten thousand meters in the sky.
Only ability users like Seven and Kizaru could travel back and forth without being affected.
It was suitable as an early-stage base, but not as the main headquarters of an entire pirate crew.
Unless Seven had so many points that he could not spend them all and equipped every crewmate with a Flying Bamboo-Copter or Flying Cloak.
And Wano?
It was located in the New World.
Entering and leaving required crossing dangerous waterfalls, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.
It could effectively block invasions from outside forces.
It was also the only source and processing site of Seastone, giving it strategic resources and technology.
It was far more suitable to become the Morning Star Pirates’ main base.
The only difficulty was how to defeat Kaido.
“I’ll wait a few more years.”
Seven had just returned to the Thunder God Palace and sat down when the former Skypiean faction led by Gan Fall and the former Shandia faction led by Calpa came in a great crowd to pay their respects.
“Lord Thunder God…”
Seven waved for everyone to sit first.
“I already know why you’ve come.”
The most fundamental conflict between the Sky Islanders and the Shandia lay in the shortage of land resources.
Of course, there was also a lack of mutual respect.
The Sky Islanders saw the Shandia as savage invaders, while the Shandia saw the Sky Islanders as shameless plunderers.
“As for the distribution of land resources, a Skypiean council composed of elders from both sides will allocate residential and farming land according to population.”
“The two peoples will live and farm in mixed areas.”
“The Sky Islanders will provide dial and cloud-sea technology, while the Shandia will provide agricultural knowledge.
You will establish cooperatives and jointly develop efficient farming.”
“The former war zones have fertile land, but because they were isolated by war, they could not be used effectively.
From now on, they must be used properly.
Let them grow food that can feed everyone.”
“In addition, the former God’s Guards and the Shandia warriors will be reorganized into the Thundercloud Guard.
They will be responsible for island-wide security, law enforcement, and suppressing rebellions.”
“Peace Day will be established as an official holiday.”
“I have only one requirement: fairness, fairness, and more damn fairness.”
Halfway through Seven’s speech, a string of notifications rang out one after another, making his head buzz.
Your consigned item, Reject Dial, has been purchased by a Warhammer-world user.
You have received 9,000 points.
Current point balance: 11,916.]
[Ding.
Your consigned item, Jet Dial, has been purchased by a Warhammer-world user.
You have received 900 points.
Current point balance: 12,816.]
…
[Ding.
Your consigned item, Octopus Hot-Air Balloon, has been purchased by a Warhammer-world user.
You have received 900 points.
Current point balance: 15,966.]
Seven’s expression turned stunned.
As expected of a godly man who had transmigrated to the Warhammer world.
He had directly emptied every item Seven had listed on the trading platform.
A true top patron.
Warhammer Bro, I’ll go through fire and water for you!
Seven took a deep breath to calm himself, then solemnly instructed, “Old Gan, Old Cal, I’ll be troubling you both.”
“Yes, Lord Thunder God.”
After everyone dispersed, Seven began considering how to use this massive sum of 15,966 points to maximize his strength.
The safest method was naturally to buy Armament Haki and Observation Haki, which would cost a total of 10,000 points.
With the Rumble-Rumble Fruit amplifying it, awakening Observation Haki would give him more confidence against enemies.
Armament Haki would not only make up for Seven’s greatest weakness, defense, but also serve as the foundation for advancing to a higher level of Armament Haki: Ryuo.
Aside from that, there was another option.
Iron Balloon, the same physique as Charlotte Linlin, one of the Four Emperors, cost 20,000 points.
Seven rubbed his brow, already having made up his mind.
Armament Haki and Observation Haki could be obtained through training.
Iron Balloon could not.
Iron Balloon was an innate constitution, separate from Armament Haki, and the two defensive powers could be stacked.
It was a naturally born, extremely powerful physical defense talent.
Ordinary blades, swords, guns, and bullets could not harm it in the slightest.
It was the cornerstone that made Big Mom a natural-born destroyer, and it matched Seven’s Innate Monstrous Strength perfectly.
What he should buy was obvious.
Although he did not have enough points yet, there were only three days left until next month’s listing limit refreshed.
Warhammer Bro had bought six items this time.
Four types of dials had already been purchased earlier by the apocalypse-world and Naruto-world users.
Given Warhammer Bro’s wealth, he would likely buy the other four types too: Water Dial, Flame Dial, Laser Dial, and Flash Dial.
Each was priced at 1,000 points, and with the other six items, it would be enough to buy Iron Balloon.
“I’ll wait a little longer.”
…