At the very top of the Red Line.
The Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
The magnificent Pangaea Castle stood atop the Red Line.
Within it was a room known as the Room of Authority, belonging to the highest powers of the World Government.
At this very moment, the five publicly recognized highest authorities in the world had gathered there.
The Five Elders.
“Rocks!
That bastard who caused a huge disturbance at last year’s World Conference and took advantage of the chaos to invade the domain of the Celestial Dragons!”
Saturn, one of the Five Elders, ground his teeth with a furious expression, his anger practically overflowing.
“After disappearing for more than half a year, he has resurfaced again, and this time he is no longer alone.
Edward Newgate, user of the Gura Gura no Mi, and Ren, user of the Logia-type Goro Goro no Mi.
Neither of them can be underestimated.”
Jupiter, one of the Five Elders, spoke with a solemn expression.
“Rocks D.
Xebec…
Is the will of D stirring again?”
Mars, one of the Five Elders, spoke quietly.
“This man has already sealed his own fate.
He cannot be allowed to live.”
Venus, one of the Five Elders, spoke with murderous intent as the supreme-grade great sword Shodai Kitetsu in his hand gleamed with a chilling light.
“Indeed.
We cannot allow this crew to continue growing unchecked.
We must eliminate the danger while it is still in its infancy.”
Mercury, one of the Five Elders, spoke.
“Notify the Marines.
No matter the cost, eliminate Rocks and his crew.”
…
…
Marine Headquarters.
A suffocating atmosphere enveloped the entire island.
All because of the Heavenly Tribute incident.
Not only had the Heavenly Tribute been robbed, but a Celestial Dragon, a member of the World Nobles, had also met a violent end.
The higher-ups of the World Government were furious, and naturally, all that pressure fell upon the Marines.
From the Fleet Admiral to the Admirals, everyone was busy beyond belief.
At Oris Plaza.
“Tsuru, where’s that bastard Garp?”
The question came from Sengoku, a Marine Headquarters Captain with a rounded hairstyle.
The young Marine Lieutenant Commander Tsuru shook her head, indicating that she didn’t know.
“Honestly, at a time like this, where the hell did that guy run off to?
If I remember correctly, his son is almost two years old by now.
His leave should have ended ages ago!”
Sengoku gritted his teeth.
“Well…
Garp might not have gone off to play…”
Young Tsuru hesitated before speaking.
“Garp said before that while returning to the East Blue, he encountered a pirate crew.
He said he wouldn’t stop until he caught them.”
Sengoku froze for a moment, then nodded.
Come to think of it, there really had been something like that.
…
…
Grand Line, Saint Ting Island.
The Kingdom of Alabasta.
The port city of Nanohana.
“Boss, the fried noodles here are seriously delicious!
Give me another ten servings!”
A young man wearing a straw hat buried his head between bowls of food.
He wolfed down his meal while speaking indistinctly.
“Roger, stop eating for a moment and look at this.”
A handsome man with short blond hair handed the newspaper to his captain and companion.
“Huh?
Isn’t that Newgate?
He’s in the news again!
We can’t fall behind either!”
The straw-hatted young man, Roger, spoke excitedly.
A year ago, shortly after entering the Grand Line, the Roger Pirates had crossed paths with the Brothers Pirates.
Roger had no particular impression of the other members of the Brothers Pirates.
The only one who had left a deep impression on him was Edward Newgate.
“Is that really the important part?
What’s more important is this monster of a crew!”
Rayleigh rubbed his forehead.
Roger was just about to resume eating when he took a closer look and finally noticed the fact that the young Whitebeard had switched crews.
“Rocks…
Why would Newgate join that guy’s crew?
That’s not like him.”
Roger murmured suspiciously.
“And this man called Ren…
Tsk tsk, there really are no shortage of ruthless characters on this sea.”
Just as Roger was sighing to himself, there was suddenly a loud bang.
The restaurant’s sliding door was violently shoved open.
“Roger!
Rayleigh!
I’ve finally found you!”
A young man wearing small sunglasses and carrying an axe shouted from the doorway.
“Whoa, isn’t that Jaba?
Come on, have something to eat with us!”
Roger happily grinned.
“Is this really the time to eat?
We’ve got to get the hell out of here!”
Scopper Gaban said anxiously.
“What’s…”
Before Rayleigh could finish asking—
“Puhahahaha!”
A wild, unrestrained laugh came from outside the restaurant.
“That mad dog is here again?”
Rayleigh’s eyelid twitched violently.
“You damn bastard, Roger!
I’ve finally found you!”
“Eeeeeek~!”
Roger’s face immediately twisted into an expression of extreme disgust.
“You again?
When is this going to end?!”
“Puhahahaha!
It won’t end until I catch you!
Even if you run all the way to the ends of Hell, I’ll chase you there!”
The young Marine Headquarters Captain, Monkey D.
Garp, grinned.
…
…
At this very moment.
The three men at the center of this storm—Ren and his two companions—were celebrating their great victory on an uninhabited island.
Although they weren’t short on money after plundering the Sky Island, who in their right mind would complain about having too much money?
More importantly, apart from making a fortune, this operation had made their names resound across the sea.
And for Ren in particular, this incident was of extraordinary significance.
Ever since the news had broken, his Reputation Points had been steadily increasing.
And now, they had already broken through the fifty-thousand mark.
The Editing function, which had previously been grayed out and unusable, had finally been unlocked.
An excited heart.
Trembling hands.
Breaking through fifty thousand Reputation Points meant that Ren now possessed five editing opportunities.
Using Reputation Points to [Edit] a recorded ability was essentially a process of strengthening himself.
Ren’s principle was simple:
If you’ve got Reputation Points, then use the damn things.
Money was meant to be spent after earning it.
If he earned money only to pinch every penny and live a miserable, stingy life, then he might as well have just given up and laid around doing nothing from the beginning.
Therefore, these five editing opportunities naturally had to be used up in one go.
They had to be turned into actual strength.
Using his drunkenness as an excuse, Ren sank his consciousness into the little black room and opened the editor panel.
Number of Devil Fruits Recorded ×7!
Logia ×1!
Paramecia ×2!
Zoan ×4!
Among the seven recorded abilities, the Logia-type Goro Goro no Mi and the Paramecia-type Gura Gura no Mi were unquestionably two god-tier abilities.
They were the obvious priority for further development.
Between these two god-tier abilities, Ren still leaned toward using the Goro Goro no Mi as his primary means of attack.
After all, he had possessed the Goro Goro no Mi for much longer and was far more proficient in using its abilities.
Furthermore, Ren had already come up with several feasible ideas for editing and developing the Goro Goro no Mi.
By comparison, he temporarily had no particularly good ideas for editing and developing the Gura Gura no Mi.
“Then I’ll start with the Goro Goro no Mi!”
Ren began sorting through all those flashy lightning techniques.
First were the techniques developed by Enel in the original One Piece world.
Thunder Beast, Thunder Bird, Thunder Dragon, and all those fancy moves were flashy but lacked practical power.
However, the ultimate move, Raigo, as well as the massive-area attack Raijin, were worth incorporating.
Then there was the Kirin technique from the neighboring Naruto world.
That one was also incredibly cool.
And then there was…
After a long while, Ren finally made a bold decision.
“There’s a high chance this will fail, wasting ten thousand Reputation Points for nothing.
But if I don’t give it a try, I’ll definitely regret it.
What if it actually works?”
As Ren thought this, his mind stirred.
Ten thousand Reputation Points transformed into countless specks of starlight.
In the end, they condensed into a Pen of Wish Power in Ren’s hand.
Ren selected the Goro Goro no Mi’s editing panel, raised the pen, and began to write.
[Zoan-type Hito Hito no Mi, Mythical Model: Thunder God]