Espelia Kingdom.
Rocks carried a bouquet of flowers to visit the grave of someone he had once known.
Ren did not follow him.
Instead, he wandered alone through this shattered land.
Of course, he wasn’t simply wandering around.
He was looking for an important person.
The Straw Hat Pirates’ musician, Brook, who had died and been reduced to nothing but a skeleton.
As the former captain of the Kingdom of Espelia’s Royal Guard, Brook’s strength was not to be underestimated.
At present, the Rocks Pirates had only just been established, with only the captain and vice-captain aboard the ship.
It was inevitably a little lonely.
As the vice-captain of the Rocks Pirates, Ren felt that it was his duty to contribute to the crew and recruit talented individuals…
Well, that was just an excuse.
What Ren was really interested in was Brook’s Devil Fruit ability—the Paramecia-type Revive-Revive Fruit!!!
After consuming it, the user could be granted a second life.
Although this fruit provided no boost to one’s personal combat strength, in terms of how utterly outrageous its ability was, it was no inferior to any god-tier Devil Fruit.
The ability to come back from the dead was something that, if not literally dreamed of by everyone, was at least desired by 99.9 percent of people.
Ren walked through the ruined urban district, his hands in his pockets, passing through streets that had been ravaged by artillery fire.
After crossing several blocks, he saw only a few scattered figures, all shambling around like walking corpses, having lost every shred of hope.
This country really was dead beyond saving.
Anyone with even a little ability had already left.
Under such circumstances, even if Ren wanted to ask someone for information, finding anyone he could actually question was difficult.
Just as Ren shook his head, several ragged half-grown boys suddenly blocked his path.
“Hey, hand over everything valuable you’ve got!”
The leader, a boy who looked about fourteen or fifteen, held a battered kitchen cleaver covered in notches and cracks, putting on a fierce expression as he threatened Ren.
Ren laughed.
After struggling to survive on Mafia Island for two months, he naturally knew what true desperadoes looked like.
The half-grown boys in front of him all had wandering eyes, and their entire bodies radiated an aura that could only be described as cowardice.
“Do you know where Brook is?” Ren asked.
It had taken him this long to finally encounter a few normal people, so naturally, he had to seize the opportunity.
Seeing that Ren completely ignored his threat, the leading boy immediately felt humiliated.
He gritted his teeth and barked,
“I’m not joking around with you!
If you don’t hand over your stuff right now, you’re finished!”
His voice trembled as he spoke, and even the hand gripping the cleaver was shaking.
“A real killer wouldn’t look like you.”
Ren calmly stepped forward and reached out, grabbing the edge of the battered “tetanus” cleaver.
Paramecia-type Rust-Rust Fruit, loaded!!!
“Waaaaah!”
The half-grown boy screamed after being startled, looking as though he was prepared to throw caution to the wind.
The next second, he suddenly felt the weight in his hand disappear.
Looking down, he saw that the iron kitchen cleaver had already rusted away completely in Ren’s hand, crumbling into a pile of rust.
“You…
who the hell are…
ah!
That hurts!”
After a little rough handling from Ren, the half-grown boys all became obedient.
“Now, can you answer my question?
Answer well, and you’ll get a reward!”
Ren smiled.
“Can the reward be something to eat?”
A child barely over ten years old looked at him with bright, sparkling eyes.
“Of course.”
Ren nodded.
“First question.
Do you know Brook?”
Brook?
The half-grown children looked at one another, disappointment appearing on their faces.
Since they didn’t know Brook, naturally, they couldn’t get a reward.
Just then, the leading boy suddenly let out an “Ah!” as though he had remembered something.
“Big brother, the Brook you’re looking for…
is he the captain of the Kingdom’s Royal Guard?”
“That’s right.
That’s him.
Do you know where he is?”
Ren’s eyes lit up.
At last, he had some information.
Unfortunately, the boy shook his head.
“Captain Brook left four years ago.
It seems someone came to take him away.
I don’t know where he went after that.”
“I see!”
Ren wasn’t too disappointed.
He could roughly guess that the people who took Brook away were most likely the Rumbar Pirates.
If that was the case, Brook should still be active somewhere in the West Blue at this point.
There would always be a chance to encounter him.
“Big brother, I’m really sorry about what happened earlier.
That’s all I know.
Can you let us go?”
The leading boy asked nervously.
“No!”
Ren shook his head.
Hearing that, the faces of the half-grown boys all turned pale, and fear filled their hearts.
The leading boy gritted his teeth, preparing to take responsibility for everything himself and accept whatever Ren decided to do to him.
Just then, Ren suddenly changed his tone.
“I already said that there would be a reward for answering my questions.
So, tell me.
What do you want?”
The expressions on the boys’ faces froze for a moment.
Then their eyes suddenly lit up with astonishing brilliance.
“Really?”
“Big brother, for real?”
“I want a piece of bread…”
“I-I-I…
I want…”
One after another, they cautiously made their small requests.
Ren agreed to every one of them.
Finally, he looked toward the leading boy and asked what he wanted.
“I…
I don’t want food.”
The boy asked timidly,
“Could you give me some medicine?
My mother and my little sister, they…”
“Of course.”
Ren nodded.
“Come with me.”
About half an hour later, Ren led everyone to the secret anchorage.
The Rust-Iron Pirates had made thorough preparations, and the ship was stocked with a large amount of supplies.
Ren directly set aside several crates of food and then took various medicines from the ship’s infirmary, giving them all to the children.
The world of pirates wasn’t only about merciless slaughter.
There should be kindness and righteousness as well.
“Thank you so, so much, big brother!”
All the half-grown boys knelt before Ren and thanked him in unison.
“Big brother, my name is Ray.
Can I know your name?”
“Ren!”
With his back turned to them, Ren waved and walked away.
“Big brother, will we see you again?”
The boy named Ray clenched his fists and shouted.
“As long as we’re all on this sea, we’ll meet again someday.”
Ren’s voice drifted back from far away.
…
By evening.
Rocks returned.
The pirate ship set sail once more, leaving the Kingdom of Espelia behind.
After having a simple dinner, Ren returned to his room, leaving Rocks on the deck to stand watch for the night.
Looking at the moonlight outside the window, Ren’s mind stirred.
His consciousness sank into a special little black-room space.
The Editor panel appeared before him.
In the Devil Fruit section, there was only a single lonely fruit—the Rust-Rust Fruit.
Beneath the Devil Fruit section, an area that had originally been dim and gray now lit up, signifying that it had been unlocked.
Reputation: 6/10,000
(The Devil Fruit editing function can be unlocked once accumulated Reputation exceeds 10,000.)
Ren raised an eyebrow and began carefully examining the so-called editing function.
After reading through the function’s description, he couldn’t help holding his breath as excitement gradually spread across his face.
Just the ability to record an unlimited number of Devil Fruits was already enough to make him invincible.
Now, with ability editing on top of that, wouldn’t he be taking off completely?
As the saying went:
Unlimited ability recording was already an invincible path.
Multiple rounds of editing opened countless more paths!!!